


This is the Way

by frakkingtoaster



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types, The Mandalorian (TV)
Genre: Action/Adventure, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, F/F, F/M, Friendship
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-29
Updated: 2021-03-13
Packaged: 2021-03-15 11:02:21
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 22
Words: 53,832
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29063280
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/frakkingtoaster/pseuds/frakkingtoaster
Summary: In a world where Ahsoka defeated the Magistrate but isn't looking for Thrawn, she agrees to train Grogu, and takes Din and Grogu to join up with Bo-Katan's faction of Mandalorians and their quest to retake their home world.Non-canon following The Mandalorian Chapter 13: The Jedi.
Relationships: Bo-Katan Kryze & Ahsoka Tano, Bo-Katan Kryze/Ahsoka Tano, Koska Reeves/Axe Woves, Obi-Wan Kenobi/Satine Kryze
Comments: 21
Kudos: 86





	1. History Lesson

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> On the way to Bo-Katan's base, Ahsoka provides Din with a brief history lesson on Mandalore and Bo-Katan.

_9 ABY_

The magistrate is defeated and the town liberated, but Din feels restless. He tightens his grip on the spear that Ahsoka gave him. “What happens now?” 

She eyes him meaningfully. “Now I will take you somewhere where Grogu can be trained safely out of the Empire’s sight.” 

“Sounds good, just tell me where to go.” Din gestures for her to follow him. They walk through the woods, and Din looks around the destruction from Ahsoka’s run-in with the droids two nights ago. “Where did you leave your ship?”

“Didn’t bring one. I hitched a ride here.”

Din chuckles softly in wonder. “A space shuttle service exists?”

Ahsoka grins slyly. "I'll introduce you, you might even get a discount."

They reach the Razor Crest and Din opens the cargo door, revealing an anxious Grogu who has been waiting for them. He stands up immediately, waving his hands, babbling. “We’re back kid, don’t you worry,” Din reassures him, picking him up. “The nice lady is going to join us, okay?”

Ahsoka watches their interaction, and can’t help me but smile at how familial it is. Din settles Grogu in and straps the seatbelt across him. Ahsoka sits down at the co-pilot’s seat and turns to see Din looking expectantly at her. “So where are we going?” he asks.

“We’re rejoining Bo-Katan at Concordia, one of the Mandalore’s moons.”

"What - no! Mandalore is cursed." 

Ahsoka frowns. "Why do you say that?"

Din finds himself at a loss for words. "Well, that's what they told us growing up. We were told stories of how Mandalore lost its way and became a wasteland, a cursed place."

Ahsoka relaxes, realizing that it's not a new development. "Mandalore is not cursed. And Concordia is safe, I assure you. Bo has done a fine job hiding in plain sight.”

Din huffs and shrugs. “Alright, strap in then.”

A few hours into the flight, Din returns to the cockpit from the cargo hold, where he had placed a sleepy Grogu into his hammock. He finally asks the question that’s been nagging at him. “How did you, a Jedi, throw your lot in with Mandalorians?”

Ahsoka smiles, as though she had been expecting the question. “We weren’t always allies. I met Bo when I was a young padawan fighting in the Clone Wars, and she was the second-in-command of Death Watch, and well, she tried to kill me.”

“Death Watch?”

Ahsoka looks a little perplexed as to why Din seemed to know so little about Mandalore and its recent history, but she lets it slide. “Death Watch was deemed a terrorist organization by the then-pacifist government led by Duchess Satine, Bo’s sister. Pre Viszla, the leader of Death Watch, overthrew the government and Satine. But he was killed by Maul, a former Sith, who then took over Mandalore. Bo turned on him, she tried to rescue Satine…” she trails off, lost in her memories.

“Maul killed Satine, Mandalore descended into civil war. A few months later, Bo came to me and the Republic for help,” she says, grief heavy in her voice.

Din looks surprised. “All along I thought it was an invasion by the Republic.”

“If only it were that simple,” Ahsoka says wistfully. “We captured Maul and overthrew Almec’s puppet government. Bo was appointed Regent, but then _it_ happened, and the Republic fell.”

Din doesn’t miss the fact that her voice trembled slightly at the mention of the Republic’s fall _._ She swallows thickly, before continuing in a low voice. “The Jedi were slaughtered, the Empire rose. The Clones, my friends, who helped Bo with the Siege turned on her. She refused to capitulate to the Empire, and was punished for it.”

Din can’t help but shudder. He’s seen first-hand how the Empire punishes those who refused to obey. Ahsoka, for her part, is looking distantly out the window. 

“Those loyal to her broke her out of prison and they escaped the planet with a promise to return one day. She convinced many of her supporters to remain in Mandalore for the sake of their families, and she remained in exile for the next seventeen years. But with the help of some rebels and Clan Wren, they defeated the Saxons, and the other clans chose her as Mand’alor _._ I had hoped that would be the end of their long struggle, but...” she huffs out a bitter laugh, “a year later, the Empire invaded Mandalore again.”

“The Purge.”

“Yes. For a while, Mandalore resisted successfully. Bo rebuilt their defences when she took power again, but they were betrayed. While the soldiers were sleeping at night, Tiber Saxon lowered the shields around the planet, allowing Empire forces through. They destroyed the city of Sundari. It was a massacre.” Ahsoka’s eyes harden at the memory. “When Rex and I got the distress signal, we got there as fast as we could. They tried to kill Bo, and they nearly did. We managed to get her and a few survivors out before she could get herself killed trying to defend the city.” 

Din leans back in his chair, overwhelmed by the information he’s receiving. It makes him view the Mandalorian he met on Trask in a new light, and his cheeks burn with embarrassment at having accused her of not being a real Mandalorian. “So who rules Mandalore now?” 

A mournful expression comes across her face. “No one. There’s not very much left of the cities. Sundari has been abandoned for years. Some live on other planets in the system though. like Krownest, but for the most part the soldiers are in Concordia.”

“So you’ve been working with Bo-Katan and her people since?”

She nods. “I help them when I can, or when I’m needed. I consider Bo a dear friend, and I don’t have many friends still alive from those days.” 

“Are there no other Jedi left out there?” Din asks, curious.

“I’ve encountered a few, but we’re scattered across the galaxy. Even with the Empire gone, there are still those who hate us and would see us gone.”

“I’m sorry,” Din offers genuinely. He gets a warm smile in return.

A beeping noise fills the cockpit, and it breaks up the moment. “We’re almost at Concordia,” Ahsoka says brightly. Din looks out the window to see the planet come into view.


	2. Meetings on Concordia

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Din and Grogu arrive in Concordia, and Ahsoka introduces them to new friends and allies.

Din and Ahsoka walk down the ramp, and they’re met by a dark-skinned Mandalorian woman with her hair neatly braided back, helmet tucked under her arm.

“Maya,” Ahsoka greets her warmly. They grasp each other’s forearms in a warrior’s salute.

“Good to see you back safely. I presume things went well in Corvus?” Maya asks with a lopsided grin.

“It did, and I made some new friends,” Ahsoka turns to introduce her companion. “This is Din, he was sent by Bo to find me.”

Recognition dawns on Maya’s face. “Ah, she told me about you, you’re the one who helped them at Trask. Heard you did something really brave and stupid, my kind of Mando’ad." She snorts a laugh and extends her hand, “I am Maya of Clan Reeves, House Kryze.”

“Din Djarin.” He's surprised that Bo-Katan would have mentioned him, least of all his exploits, but he shakes her hand firmly. He notes that her armour is a darker shade of blue with ornate gold trimmings around the chestplate, pauldrons, and helmet, unlike the three Mandalorians he had met on Trask. But like theirs’, the paint is peeling and faded, the armour scratched and chipped from years of battle.

“You said  _ friends _ , Ahsoka. I only see one friend, where is the foundling?” Maya asks. As if on cue, she hears a squeaking noise, and her gaze drops down to the bag at Din’s side when a small green hand sticks out. She leaps back in surprise. “What -”

Grogu sticks his head out, reaching out a hand towards her. Maya seems lost for words, her head swivelling from Grogu up to Din, down to Grogu again, sideways to Ahsoka.

Ahsoka can’t hold back a snigger at her surprise. “This is Grogu, his foundling.”

Maya stares blankly at him. "When you said foundling on the call, I didn't think it was going to be a little green one." Nonetheless, she holds out a gloved hand to him. A pleased grin breaks across her face when Grogu latches onto her finger, and they engage in a mock tug-of-war. Grogu frowns and grunts in annoyance when it’s clear that he won’t win, and Maya laughs brightly. "He wants to win! He's Mando'ad alright!" 

She turns back to Ahsoka and Din with a broad grin, and gestures for them to follow her. “You must be tired,” she says while leading them across the hangar bay. “I’ve asked them to prepare some food for you.” She casts Ahsoka a sideways glance. "I've seen you hungry before, it's terrifying."

Ahsoka makes an offended noise and shoves her playfully. Maya good-naturedly goes with the shove. Din observes the two women’s easy banter, there is a camaraderie there and history there. From the stories of Jedi as enemy sorcerers, it makes him even more curious as to the relationship between Ahsoka and this group of Mandalorians

Maya leads them through a maze of corridors, and finally they arrive at a steel door which she opens. “Din, this will be you and Grogu’s quarters.” She looks down and gives Grogu an affectionate pat on the head. “I’ll leave you both to it, I need to give a report. Ahsoka, would you like to join me?”

Ahsoka raises an eyebrow, but at Maya’s insistent look, she acquiesces. She turns to Din. “Let’s speak tomorrow, when you’re both rested.”

“Thank you for everything,” he says, gestures at the room. She gives him a fleeting smile and exits the room. 

They walk in silence for a while before Ahsoka turns to look at Maya. “Want to tell me what this is really about?”

“Bo called for a meeting, she has news.”

“And I’m invited?” Ahsoka feigns surprise.

Maya shoulders her playfully. “You may be  _ jetii _ , but you’re one of us now.” Ahsoka grins and follows Maya to the command center, where the captains and clan heads are gathered. Bo-Katan is already present via hologram.

“Lady Bo-Katan.” Maya salutes her sharply. She nods at the other two standing behind her. "Axe, Koska."

Bo-Katan's smile at seeing her friend eases the tired lines in her face, and she throws Maya a more casual salute of her own. Her countenance softens when she sees the person next to Maya. She tilts her head slightly. “Ahsoka.”

“Lady Bo-Katan, I hope you’re well,” she greets her friend. Bo-Katan’s lips twitch in amusement at the formality, and she can feel Maya roll her eyes beside her.

“What do you have for us, Bo?” Fenn asks bluntly, getting straight to the point.

“Zura and Morko are en-route to deliver the Gozanti to you.”

“That’s great news,” Fenn beams.

“That’s not all,” she continues. “We’ve been going through the Gozanti's communication logs, and we have found some interesting information, interesting enough to follow up on.”

"So you’re not heading back here?" Maya asks, and even through the distortion of the hologram, Bo-Katan can see the tense worry in her friend's shoulders. 

“No, we’re not. We’ll follow up on this first.”

“May I ask why?” Maya’s voice is terse.

Bo-Katan gives her a hard look. “I’ll explain later, we’ve got to move now.”

“Bo-Katan…” Maya begins warningly.

“Not now, we’ll speak later,” Bo-Katan shuts down the conversation firmly. “Fenn, I’m sending you a data packet with all the logs. Have someone comb through them, see what’s relevant.” She turns to Ursa. “Send me the report that you got from Sabine on the latest Empire movements, okay?” 

“You got it, Bo.”

With a final look at the room, Bo-Katan gives them a brisk nod and switches off the holo-feed.

Ahsoka looks at Maya, who’s gone very still since the call ended, jaw clenched. She spins sharply on her heel, and walks towards Benn Rook, their resident comms specialist. “I want to know what’s on the data packet once you receive it." She turns to Fenn, looking angry. "I want to know what’s going on in that head of hers. I have a bad feeling about this.”

“We’ll go through it, Maya, don’t worry,” Fenn says soothingly.

“With her, I always worry,” Maya says drily, and turns to leave the command center. 

Ahsoka hurries to follow her, and catches her by the elbow. “Maya, talk to me.”

The woman turns to her, forehead creased in worry. “I’m afraid of what she saw in those logs. The last thing we need is her going off-books with those two knuckleheads.”

Despite herself, Ahsoka can’t help the amusement that bleeds into her tone. “Knuckleheads?”

“Yeah, knuckleheads! They’ve been spending too much time with Bo, they’ve taken on her air of invincibility too,” Maya grumbles. “I swear I’ve taught Koska better than that.”

Ahsoka quirks an eyebrow at her. “You taught her to follow orders _ , _ did you not? I vaguely remember you complaining that she wouldn’t listen to you, so you thought working with Bo would be good for her.”

“Ah, I know!” Maya groans, “don’t remind me.”

Ahsoka chuckles. “Speak with Bo later and urge caution. She listens to you.”

Maya scoffs. “She listens, then the stubborn  _ shabuir _ does whatever she wants anyway, in case you haven’t noticed.” She sighs. “I just hope I’m being paranoid.”

“Well, your job as Protector is to be paranoid,” Ahsoka says lightly.

Maya looks sullen. “I know. I’m happy to be proven wrong in this case.”


	3. Mounting Worry

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Mandalorians receive bad news, and a rescue mission is launched.

_9 ABY_

Din rubs his eyes, he’s exhausted.

For hours, Maya and himself have been going through the map of the Outer Rim, painstakingly mapping out known coverts and remaining Imperial strongholds. Maya's mapping was already extensive, but she was eager to hear Din's input. She told him with a pleased grin that they were now fairly confident of where to next hit the Imperial remnants. 

Seeing Din’s increasingly glassy stare, and feeling her own tiredness creeping in, Maya had led him into the pantry to brew more caf. While a fresh batch of caf brewed, she started quizzing him on his upbringing, curious as to how the Children of the Watch were brought up. None of Axe and Koska's initial disdain for the Watch was evident in her tone, so he answered all her questions as best he could.

In turn he wanted to know more of the Mandalorians he was now living with. "Your armour is different from the others I’ve seen. It looks the closest to Fenn’s in terms of design, but it’s not quite the same. Are you two a part of the same clan?"

He thought it was a simple question, but the way that she looks at him and weighs her answer makes him think he's perhaps wrong.

"I made some modifications, but this is the traditional armour of a Protector. We were the guards of the royal household. Fenn and I served Duchess Satine," she says, grief and bitterness heavy in her voice. "As far as we know, we’re the only Protectors left. The Empire saw to that."

Din’s chest constricts with the pain and grief. The Empire has taken too much from his people. He tries to change the topic to something lighter. "So you've been fighting by Bo-Katan's side for a long time.” 

That seems to cheer her up a little, lifting her up from her unhappy memories. "Yeah, since we were both seventeen. I was a fresh Protector, she was my first assignment. We were kids." She huffs a laugh and shakes her head fondly.

"Is that why you left when she left?" Din asks.

She shrugs and takes another gulp of her caf. "I joined a year after she did. I was tired of it all."

Din frowns at her through his helmet, she’s being deliberately vague, and something doesn’t add up. In their conversations, Maya had never once spoken ill of Duchess Satine, he wasn't sure if it was because Satine was Bo-Katan's sister, or because she genuinely had no issues with the woman. If the latter was the case, then why try to overthrow her? But Din decides to let it slide, and changes the topic instead. "So you must have some cool stories to tell."

Maya grins at him, "I sure do. The drama behind closed doors at the palace, I tell you -"

They both look up at the sound of rapping on the door. Ursa is standing there, face drawn and angry. "Command center, now. It's Bo."

Maya shoots to her feet, tiredness forgotten. "Tell me."

* * *

Ahsoka looks up in annoyance when she hears the door open. “I told you I didn’t want to be disturbed, training needs to be - “

“Ahsoka, we need you now.” Fenn’s tone is urgent, and Ahsoka grows concerned when she sees the worry etched onto his face. She looks at Grogu, who stares at her, head cocked to the side in curiosity.

“This better be important.”

“Trust me, it is,” Fenn says before disappearing behind the door again.

Ahsoka kneels down in front of Grogu, looking the little fellow in the eye. “Stay here, and practice meditation, alright?” He nods, and Ahsoka gives him an encouraging smile before hurrying after Fenn.

They run into Maya, Ursa and Din on the way, and Ahsoka wisely holds her tongue when she sees the agitated looks on Ursa and Maya’s faces. The command center is packed and loud, bustling with activity, but it quietens down when they enter the room.

“What’s the emergency?” Ahsoka asks.

Benn pulls out a map. “Forty eight hours ago we lost contact with Bo-Katan, Koska, and Axe. During our last transmission, they said they were on their way to Ryloth,” he points to a red dot on the map.

An ugly pause fills the room.

When Maya speaks, it’s low and menacing. “You waited f _orty eight_ hours before telling us that she’s gone missing?” 

“There’s no need to push the panic button yet, she’s gone MIA for eighty two hours before -” Fenn interjects.

Maya spins to face him with a furious look on her face, and is about to say something but Ahsoka cuts in first. “There’s something else isn’t it,” she looks sharply at Benn.

He wilts a little under the weight of the Togruta’s gaze. “We picked up radio chatter - two battalions of troopers were deployed to Ryloth.”

“When?” Ahsoka barks.

“Twenty four hours ago,” Benn closes his eyes briefly, waiting for the hammer to fall. He flinches when Maya slams her hand onto the table in frustration.

“Dank ferrik! You should’ve told us earlier, Benn!” 

“Why was she even in Ryloth? I thought she was headed to Dantooine.” Ahsoka frowns.

Maya turns to her, looking angry, but Ahsoka senses it’s more of an anger directed at herself. “She found logs about a newly built Arc Pulse Generator, and we confirmed that it’s in Ryloth. She insisted on going there to do more recon.”

“That’s a terrible idea,” Ahsoka says with an air of incredulity.

“Yeah no shit. I tried to talk her out of it, she didn’t listen.”

Ahsoka bites the inside of her mouth, worried. “Benn, is there no way of getting through to them at all?”

He shakes his head, frustration seeping through his body language. “All comms in and out of the planet are jammed, we can’t ascertain for sure what happened, maybe there’s a chance they haven’t been discovered yet.”

Maya scoffs. “Benn, two battalions have been sent there, if they haven’t found her yet, she’s going to be found.”

“Let’s not jump to conclusions - “ Fenn starts to say.

Maya interrupts him angrily. “Kriffing hell, Fenn. The karking conclusion is that we need to get to Ryloth, get them out - “ 

“And what if the Arc Pulse Generator is working? What then? I’ve seen first-hand its destruction,” Ursa interjects, vividly remembering the destruction the machine wrecked on her clan.

“Then we’ll figure out a way in anyway, or we destroy it, I don’t know!”

“Oh come on, we can’t just blast our way -”

Ahsoka decides that she’s had enough of the bickering between them. She steps in. “I’ll find them.” Everyone stops, their heads swivelling to Ahsoka. “I’ll go to Ryloth to find them.”

“I’ll come with you,” Maya quickly volunteers.

Ahsoka sighs. She admires the woman’s loyalty, but is unwilling to let any of Bo-Katan’s people near that death machine. “I’m the only one who can go, and not get killed by that machine, if it’s up and running.”

Maya shakes her head. “I can’t let you go alone. Besides, we don’t even know if it’s working.”

“But if it is, what then? What happens if you all go, and get killed just like that?” she snaps her fingers. 

An uncomfortable silence falls over the group. 

After a long beat, Maya breaks the silence, saying what a number of the Mandalorians present were already thinking. “I’ll come, _beskar'gam_ or not.”

“Me too.”

“And me.”

Mandalorians, one after another, are volunteering to go to Ryloth. Din looks around, impressed at their loyalty. He looks over at Ahsoka, and sees the pride on her face. He doesn’t know what possesses him to step up, but he does.

“My creed does not allow me to take off my helmet in front of any living being, but I’d be proud to be your pilot for this mission,” he offers.

He feels slightly uncomfortable when the others in the room look at him in surprise, but relaxes when Maya grins widely at him. “We’ll be glad to have you with us, _ner vod_ ”


	4. Ryloth

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ahsoka and the Mandalorian rescue party land in Ryloth, and start looking for their missing friends.

Din lands the ship in a clearing in the forest not too far from Lessu’s city walls. Maya hands him a communicator. “We’ll contact you if we need extraction.”

“If Maya makes a plan, we’ll always need hot extraction,” Fenn jokes. The others chuckle, and Din appreciates the brief moment of levity. The group has been on edge for the entire flight.

“I’ll be here,” he promises them. Maya claps him on the shoulder and leads the group off the ship.

Din closes the cargo door behind them, and Tristan Wren pulls his cloak tighter around himself. “Dank ferrik, I feel naked without my beskar.”

“Now you know what normal people feel like,” Ahsoka says teasingly from the back.

Maya snorts. “It’s funny you think of yourself as normal, Ahsoka, with your magical powers.” That gets a few chuckles from the others.

“It’s not _magical_ ,” Ahsoka retorts with a long-suffering sigh.

“Alright, keep it together, we’re reaching the city gates,” Fenn murmurs.

The group reaches the checkpoint, and two troopers bar their entrance. “State your business.”

Ahsoka gestures at the covered carts next to her. “We’re merchants. We have prized goods for the city’s patrons.” The trooper cocks his head skeptically, and Ahsoka whips off the covers of their cart with a flourish. “The finest alcohol that Ryloth will enjoy.”

He leans back, satisfied. “Right, carry on.”

“Alright, we’re in, now what?” Tristan asks in a low voice as they pass through the gates.

“We go where the troopers are,” Ahsoka says grimly.

Maya turns around. “That or we go there first,” she points to the sign for a cantina. “I’m sure we can get some news there.”

“I’m going to take a walk into the other cantina down the street,” Fenn whispers. “I’ll take the cart, see what I can find.”

“Alright, comm us if you have problems,” Maya tells him. Fenn gives her a brisk nod, and walks away, pushing the cart. 

Walking into the cantina in front of them, Maya makes a beeline for the bar counter, flagging the bartender down. When he returns with the drinks, she leans forward conspiratorially. “What’s happening here? There’s never been that many troopers that last time I was here. It’s bad for business!”

The bartender sighs. “I know. Troopers arrived two days ago, and they’re scaring away my regulars.”

“What are they doing here?”

He shrugs. “I heard they’re looking for some pirates or fugitives. I can’t remember exactly.”

Maya leans back against the bar and sips her drink, staying casual. “That whole group of troopers out there with their fancy ships can’t find a couple of pirates?”

“Beats me.” The bartender shrugs again, then quickly looks away. “Speak of the devil.” 

Maya looks up to see a tall woman with jet black hair sweep into the cantina, her black cloak billowing behind her. Noting the red embroidery on her dark coat and uniform, Maya recognizes her as an Imp right away. “That devil’s the cause of my bad business,” the bartender whispers resentfully.

Maya takes another sip of her drink, watching the woman over the rim of her cup. The woman taps another man wearing an Imperial uniform, and they exit the cantina together. She looks to Benn and Tristan, flicking her eyes towards the two Imps. Tristan nods and tugs Benn on the arm, following them out the cantina at a distance.

Maya turns to Ahsoka, her eyes glinting. “What say you and I take a walk around town?”

“Let’s go.”

* * *

Maya and Ahsoka have made a full round around the city, when they get an update through the commlink. “Captain, it’s Tristan. We’ve followed the Imps into a building in the Octagon district. Troopers patrolling the area, could be an underground base.”

Ahsoka and Maya exchange a look, and seeing Maya’s expression, Ahsoka sighs. “You already have a plan don’t you.”

A slow smile creeps up Maya’s face, and Ahsoka knows she’ll already hate it. “Boys, how do you feel about getting some new armour?”

A brutal beatdown of several troopers later, the Mandalorians are putting on a new set of armour.

“Kriff. This guy smells,” Tristan coughs into the helmet. “Why did I have to get the guy with bad breath or bad odour, bad everything?”

He looks over at the others, and one shrugs sullenly. “At least yours just stinks, mine sweats a lot.” Benn flaps his arms in an attempt to dry it.

“Oh please, at least you don’t have montrals to think about!” Ahsoka says in a disgruntled voice. “Maya, there’s no way I can put this helmet on my head.”

“Shut up boys,” Fenn growls in annoyance.

Maya turns to Ahsoka, frowning at the helmet sitting halfway on her head. “Right, that won’t work.” She drums her finger on arm, thinking. Her face brightens. “We could bring you in as a prisoner?”

“That’s the plan?” 

“Well, do you have a better one?” Maya asks with mild annoyance.

Ahsoka sighs. “Fine, let’s do it, hopefully no one recognizes me.”

Her plan to infiltrate the Imperial base works, as the other troopers allow them to pass unchecked, as Maya pushes Ahsoka roughly in front of them, hands cuffed, hood up. “Damn fool tried to steal my speeder bike,” she explains to a guard, who shrugs and lets them through. “Great, now we just need to find out where they are,” Maya mumbles. The moment she utters the words, she nears someone behind her talk about “ _prison transport”_. She whirls around, and follows closely behind a pair of troopers marching towards the stairs.

“Moff Gideon wants the prisoners prepped for transport tomorrow morning,” one trooper says.

The other snorts. “What state does he want them in? They’re not particularly mobile right now.”

“Don’t know, don’t care, stick them in a crate for all I care.”

Maya listens to them, seething in rage. It takes all her willpower not to shoot them right now. But she focuses on the task at hand. She turns to the others, whispering, “I think they’re downstairs, take the stairs to the left.”

The group descends down the first flight of stairs. Fenn peers into the dimly lit corridor. “I’ll take Tristan and Benn to search this floor.”

“Ahsoka and I will search one floor down. Stay in contact.” 

The two women continue down the stairs, Maya nodding politely at other troopers who walk past them. Walking down the dark corridor, Maya removes Ahsoka’s cuffs, and holds up a torch, illuminating the cells around them, shaking her head when they come up empty. They continue down the corridor until they come to a large steel door.

“Maya! We’ve got Axe up here. But they’re going to find out soon, we had to kill some Imps,” Fenn’s frantic voice comes over the line. 

“Copy that, Fenn. I think we’ve almost found Bo, get a move on!” Maya answers over the comms. She turns to Ahsoka, a wry look on her face. “Guess we’ll need that hot extract after all.”

Ahsoka rolls her eyes and pulls out her lightsabers. Before Maya can say anything, she cleaves through the door handle in one swift stroke.

Maya shoves the door open.


	5. Best Laid Plans

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The rescue mission is in full flight, but as always, the best plans can still go awry

The air in Maya’s lungs is knocked out of her by the impact of someone barrelling into her stomach. Her torch clatters to the floor and her blaster is wrenched out of her hand with surprising force and shoved against her helmet.

“Back off, or I will shoot!” a familiar voice snarls hoarsely.

Maya immediately berates herself for not taking off the damn trooper helmet before walking into the cell. She raises her hands in surrender, hoping her friend doesn’t shoot her by mistake.

Ahsoka lowers one lightsaber, but keeps the other aloft to illuminate their faces. She holds up an imploring hand to the woman. “Bo, it’s me,” she says softly. “It’s Ahsoka.”

A noise of surprise escapes the woman’s lips, but the blaster remains held to Maya’s head by a trembling arm. “Show yourself!”

Stepping forward, Ahsoka tucks one of her lightsabers into her belt, and lowers her hood. Bo-Katan’s arm drops limply to her side, the blaster clattering to the floor. “Ahsoka?” she breathes. She climbs off Maya, and is helped to her feet by Ahsoka. The Togruta sweeps her into a tight embrace, and in Bo-Katan’s exhaustion, a small sob of relief escapes her lungs. “I can’t believe you’re here.”

Ahsoka sighs contentedly, pulling back after a beat. She bends down to pick up Bo-Katan’s blaster, and presses it back into her hand. “Of course we came. Come on, we need to go, where’s Koska?”

“She's here, but wait, Axe -”

“The boys have him, where’s Koska?” Maya pulls off her helmet, sitting up.

Bo-Katan turns and looks at her in a daze. “You’re here too.”

“Of course.” Maya says it like it’s the most obvious thing in the world, as she quickly gets to her feet.

Bo-Katan suddenly sways, the exertion of tackling Maya has drained what little energy she had left. Ahsoka catches her before she falls. She points tiredly to the back of the cell, “Koska’s back there.”

Maya picks up her torch and walks closer. Koska is slumped unconscious against the wall. She pats the younger woman’s cheek gently, trying to get a reaction, but she doesn't stir. Reaching for Koska’s neck, she breathes a sigh of relief when she feels a pulse. She moves to pick her up, but a soft cry of warning from Bo-Katan stops her in her tracks.

“Her leg.”

Maya shines the torch over Koska's lower body, and swears loudly when she sees Koska’s left leg twisted at an unnatural angle, blood everywhere, the white of the bone protruding. For a brief moment she looks like she's about to be sick.  "Come on,  _ ad’ika _ ," she murmurs, gently lifting the other woman up. 

Despite Bo-Katan’s protests, Ahsoka wraps an arm around Bo-Katan’s waist and shoulders her weight.

Climbing the stairs to the ground floor, they step around the bodies of dead troopers to rejoin the others. The door to the street entrance from where they had come has been barred shut by the others. Fenn points to another door. “We need to go through there, it leads to their hangar bay.”

“You look like shit,” Maya calls out to Axe, her teasing grin belying her relief at seeing him alive. He gives her a look with a similar sentiment, but it melts away into a deep concern when he sees Koska draped over her shoulder. “She’s alive,” she reassures him, and his shoulders relax slightly.

Fenn looks at them. “Alright, we haven’t got much time, we need to get out of here, through the hangar bay. There’s an exit that leads to the forest. Din will be waiting for us on the other end.”

Ahsoka peeks out past the door, and pulls back with a grimace, ducking a blaster shot that flies over her head. “There’s a lot of them.”

Maya throws an automatic heavy blaster she picked up from a trooper to Tristan. He catches it smoothly. “I’ll cover you guys.”

Maya tightens her grip on Koska. “One, two…”

“Three!” Tristan shouts, as he steps away from the wall, drops to a knee, and pulls the trigger, spraying the troopers. The others start running, Ahsoka practically dragging Bo-Katan with her, while trying to shield her with her body.

Despite Tristan’s cover fire, the returning fire from the troopers becomes too heavy, and while the others make it to the other side of the hangar bay, Ahsoka and Bo-Katan are forced to stop midway and duck behind a parked shuttle. Bo-Katan pops out and starts firing, shouting, “Tristan, get over here!”

He sprints towards them, diving behind the shuttle as gunfire erupts behind him. 

“Give me a second,” he gasps, trying to catch his breath. Huffing, he scrambles up, propping the heavy blaster on the hull, and waves the others on. “I got you, go!”

Ahsoka grabs Bo-Katan’s hand, ready to drag her out again, but Bo-Katan shakes her head stubbornly. “I can run on my own two feet.”

“Bo -”

“Ahsoka, go, that’s an order!” she shouts with an air of finality, and Ahsoka looks at her reproachfully, eyes narrowing, before she turns and breaks cover. 

It’s just the two of them now. 

“Alright, Bo-Katan, you’ve got to go - “ Tristan says before he’s shouldered off the blaster. Surprised, he clatters to the ground, and looks up to see that Bo-Katan has taken his place.

“ _ Harr’chak! _ What are you doing?” He scrambles to his feet. “Give it back, you’ve got to go.” He looks over at the other side, where Ahsoka is gesturing furiously at them.

“I’ll just slow you all down,” Bo-Katan says, her voice sounding oddly strained, concentrating on aiming and firing at the approaching troopers. 

“What are you talking about?”

For a brief moment, Bo-Katan’s gaze flickers down, and Tristan’s gaze follows, down to the growing dark stain against her jumpsuit. 

“No…”

Bo-Katan is breathing heavily now, sweat beading her brow. The recoil of the blaster is exacerbating her injury, causing her more pain. “Go, Tristan, please.”

“We’re going together! I’m not leaving you here.”

“Someone’s got to cover you, or none of us are going to make it.” She risks a regretful look at him. “Go.”

“You’re our leader,” Tristan pleads with her, “we can’t leave without you.”

“And you’re Ursa’s son, I can’t let anything happen to you.” Bo-Katan turns her eyes back to the oncoming enemy. 

“We’ve got to go, what's happening!” Fenn yells across their comms. Tristan takes one last look at Bo-Katan, who is still firing at the soldiers determinedly, and wrenches himself away, sprinting towards the others.  When he rejoins the group, Fenn looks at him in shock. “Where’s Bo-Katan?”

“She’s covering our escape.”

“What? You left her there?” Axe shouts incredulously.

“What am I supposed to do, knock her out and drag her over?” Tristan snaps.

“Yes! Force’s sake, Tristan! Stars, I shouldn't have left her there!” Ahsoka shouts, unable to control her outburst, slamming her fist against the wall in frustration. Maya exchanges a look with Fenn Rau. All the years that they’ve worked with the former Jedi, they’ve rarely seen her lose her temper.

Ahsoka takes a deep breath and calms herself.  _ Come on, she needs you _ . She opens her eyes and turns to the group looking at her expectantly. She’s made up her mind. 

“Find Din and get on the ship. If we’re not back in fifteen minutes, leave without us. We’ll find another way off the planet.”

Maya gives her a hard look. She’s aware that Ahsoka didn’t mention the possibility of death or capture. But Ahsoka returns her look, determination set in her features, and Maya relents. “I’ll see you on the ship, don't be late,” she says gruffly and jerks her head at Fenn, an indication to move. 

They make it unscathed to the door on the other end of the hangar bay, ducking into the woods nearby, and follow the signal from Din’s ship into a clearing. Reaching the Razor Crest, they see that Din has already lowered the ship’s entry ramp. Maya is the first one up with Koska, followed by a limping Axe. Fenn, Tristan, and Benn drop to a crouch by the bottom of the entry ramp.

“Time check?” Fenn asks.

“Six minutes,” Maya says from behind him, joining them at the bottom of the ramp. 

They maintain their position by the ramp, waiting anxiously. To Maya, every second feels like an hour, and her mounting anxiety is noted by Fenn, who tries to reassure her. “They’ll make it.”

“You’re telling yourself or you’re telling me?” Maya snaps at him.

“Both, I guess,” Fenn mutters.

“One minute,” Tristan reports. Maya and Fenn exchange a nervous look.

A sudden roar of engines rocks through the air, and Din doesn’t need to look at the radar to know what’s happening. “They’ve launched TIE fighters!” 

“I can see that!” Maya barks at him. She looks at Fenn. “Where the hell are they?”

“We’re sitting ducks here, we’ve got to go!” Din shouts over the commlink.

“No, wait!” Maya yells when she sees movement and the red lights of blaster shots in the distance through the treeline. “Come on, where are you?” she mutters to herself, looking for -

A bright white light. Ahsoka’s lightsaber.

“It’s them! Cover them!” she shouts to the others.

Din starts up the engine, and the Razor Crest roars to life.

Ahsoka runs as fast as she can through the woods, with a barely conscious Bo-Katan slung over her shoulder. She’s past the point of trying not to jostle her, focusing only on getting to the ship. Glancing behind her, she deflects a blaster shot with her lightsaber, and looks desperately to where the ship is.  _ Still so far. _

She keeps her legs pumping, and nearly sobs in relief when she sees Maya running towards her, blasters up and firing, giving her the cover she needs. “Ahsoka, go!”

Ahsoka doesn’t have time to thank her, she just continues running towards the lowered entry ramp.

“Come on!” Fenn shouts to her, as he and the other two Mandalorians lay down cover fire. Ahsoka blasts past them, sprinting up the entry ramp. She gently lays Bo-Katan on the floor, and stumbles when the Razor Crest rocks unsteadily while lifting up from the ground. 

Her head snaps up to where Fenn, Tristan, and Benn are still standing on the half risen entry ramp. They’re shouting for Maya to run, while firing at the troopers on her tail. Maya’s back is still facing the Razor Crest, walking backwards as she continues to fire at onrushing troopers.

The ship banks hard to the left, sending everyone clattering to the floor. Within seconds, an explosion rocks the air to their right. Tristan falls backward into the cargo hold, and Benn and Fenn grab onto the ramp posts, the only thing keeping him from tumbling off the ship.

“Get her in!” Din shouts.

Maya seems to hear him, because she turns around and sprints for the ship. The Mandalorians on the ramp lay down cover fire, and Ahsoka crouches down. “Take my hand!”

Maya leaps up, and Ahsoka catches her arm. Fenn taps his commlink. “Got her, let’s go!”  Din pulls back the throttle, and the Razor Crest lifts up. Ahsoka pulls Maya up fully onto the ramp, and Benn slams the button to close the door.

The Razor Crest zips up to the atmosphere, and as the first TIE fighter swoops in front of them, Din easily shoots it down. But the second one swerves to the right out of Din’s line of sight.  A beeping sound fills the cockpit, and Din shouts, “everyone hold on!” The Razor Crest banks hard to the left, then upwards. Unable to grab onto anything, Ahsoka clatters into Fenn, sending them both tumbling to the floor.

They hear gunfire, followed by an explosion, and a victorious whoop from Din. “We’re clear!” he shouts, his voice tinged with relief. 

For a short while, he pilots the ship in silence, as everyone catches their collective breaths. Fenn climbs up to the cockpit to join him. “Nice flying, brother.” 

Tristan pokes his head up into the cockpit, “Din, where do you keep the medical supplies?” 

“Third door from the left of the cargo door.” 

“Got it, thanks.” He disappears from view again. Sliding down the ladder, he finds the med kit and retakes his position by Koska’s side.

“She’s burning up.” Maya looks worried, removing her hand from Koska’s forehead.

“I know,” Tristan replies, looking a little harried. “We’ll need to keep her temperature down until we get back to Concordia.” He pulls out gauze from the med kit, pointing to her broken leg. “We need to take care of that, can you cut around it.”

Maya pulls out a knife and starts cutting the fabric around the wound aside. It looks worse in the light than it did in the darkness of the cell. “ _ Osik! _ ” she hisses, suddenly feeling the urge to strangle the  _ shabuir  _ who did this. The white of the tibia is protruding from the skin. The wound is festering, oozing yellow pus, and the skin around the wound is swollen and red.

“Looks infected.” Tristan says grimly.

“Is she alright?”

They turn around to see Axe hovering behind them, hunched slightly over himself, looking exhausted and worried. “Is she alright?” he repeats.

Tristan’s gaze sweeps over him, looking for any critical injuries. Axe realizes what he’s doing, and shakes his head. “I’m fine, nothing serious.”

The younger Wren looks unconvinced, but lets it go for now, he’s got more urgent matters to take care of. “We’ll take care of her, Axe. I promise.”

“You’re not answering the question,” Axe replies, his voice strained.

“She’s a fighter, and we’ll do our best.”

Axe’s gaze lingers on Koska, barely comprehending what they’re saying. Tristan and Maya exchange a knowing look. Maya hands him a rag, “Axe, can you wet this and try to keep her temperature down?”  Having something to do seems to jolt Axe out of the reverie he was in, and he immediately gets to work.

Amidst his ministrations, Tristan turns to Maya. “How’s Lady Bo-Katan?”

“Benn and Ahsoka are with her. Didn’t look too good, but Ahsoka is a skilled healer. I trust her.”

Axe looks up at her, a haunted expression on his face. “They used the Arc Pulse Generator on her, multiple times.”

Tristan’s face turns white, remembering its destructive power, and Maya’s contorts with anger. 

* * *

Bo-Katan jerks awake. 

Her eyes fly open, trying to get her bearings in an unfamiliar location. Unable to fight the rising panic in her chest, she tries to sit up, but falls back with a small cry when pain ripples up and across the left side of her body. She groans and closes her eyes, trying to fight the wave of agony and nausea that washes over her.

Her hand reaches around blindly to the source of her pain, and she feels a wet fabric around her torso. She fights back a wave of panic when she realizes she's not wearing her armour. She tries to jerk forward again, but this time someone holds her down gently, accompanied by someone calling her name softly.

Finally managing to get her breathing under control, she opens her eyes to see a familiar figure kneeling by her side.

“Bo,” Ahsoka says again softly, brushing her sweat-drenched hair from her eyes. “Relax. You’re safe.”

Bo-Katan frowns, trying to remember what happened. She shuts her eyes when the memories come rushing back like a flood. 

“Ahsoka.” The word falls out like a prayer. “What happened? Where are we?” she rasps out.

“We’re in Din’s ship. We’re heading back to Concordia.”

“Is everyone...”

“Safe. Everyone’s safe.” Ahsoka watches as her body sags deeper into the cot in relief.

“Good,” she murmurs. "Good."

“You really scared me there, Bo,” Ahsoka whispers. “Please don’t do that to me again.”

Bo-Katan feels her throat tighten with emotion. Ahsoka's hand comes up to caress her cheek tenderly, and Bo-Katan involuntarily leans into it, eyes fluttering briefly, cheeks burning with shame at having put Ahsoka in such a difficult position.

They lapse into a comfortable silence, Ahsoka’s thumb rubbing soothing circles on Bo-Katan’s cheek, and Bo-Katan’s eyes slip shut, feeling the darkness pulling her under again.

The last thing she hears is Ahsoka whispering, “sleep, I’ll be right here.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In my head-canon, Tristan is a trained medic. Don't ask me why, that's just what's in my head.


	6. Deja Vu

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The mission to Ryloth brings back unhappy memories for Ahsoka.

_9 ABY_

Ahsoka stares at the crude bandage wrapped around Bo-Katan’s torso, She looks down at her shaking hands. They’re coated in crimson, Bo’s blood. She pulls the cloak from her shoulders and drapes it over Bo-Katan, gently tucking the cloak around her sides to keep her warm.

It’s deja vu.

She closes her eyes as her memories assault her.

* * *

_1 ABY_

They need to make it across the square to get to the ship, but they’re pinned down under a heavy barrage of gunfire. Troopers surround them, TIE fighters are zipping overhead, shooting at anything that moves. It’s chaos.

Ahsoka doesn’t know how they’re going to get out of this. Someone grabs her shoulder, she whirls around, lightsaber at the ready.

“Kriffing hell! Ahsoka! It’s me!” Bo-Katan shouts in alarm, waving away Ahsoka’s mortified apology. “Got any bright ideas?” she asks.

“We’re going to have to make a break for it.” Rex pants. He takes a deep breath, steeling himself, before dashing out into the open. The rest follow him, shooting at anything that gets in their way. 

Bringing up the rear, Ahsoka feels something wrap around her ankle, and the next thing she knows, she’s falling flat on her face. Looking down, there’s a thick wire coiled around her ankle. She cries out when a jolt of electricity runs up the wire and through her body. Her arms spasm, her lightsabers slip from her hands.

Just as quickly, the pain stops.

Through her foggy vision and ringing ears, she hears someone shouting her name, and the familiar sounds of a lightsaber swinging through the air, armour and flesh, and the screams of troopers. The wire loosens, and Ahsoka scrambles free, rolling over onto her knees, trying to catch her breath. 

Someone drops to a knee in front of her and shakes her shoulder roughly. The ringing in her ears starts to subside, and she hears a familiar voice calling out to her. “Ahsoka! Can you hear me? Let’s go!”

She raises her head, and Bo-Katan swims into focus in front of her, worry etched in the lines of her face. She nods mutely, and Bo-Katan hauls her to her feet, a small smile on her face as she brandishes the Darksaber in her hands. “Cool huh,” she jokes. She bends down to pick up Ahsoka’s lightsabers, and is about to press them into Ahsoka’s hands, when Ahsoka sees something behind her that makes her heart stop.

“Bo!”

The moment the word leaves her mouth, Bo-Katan’s body jerks to the side, her mouth falls open in surprise, a choked noise escaping her lips. She looks down, dazed, at her torso, where the handle of a vibro-blade is protruding. 

To Ahsoka’s surprise, Bo-Katan has the presence of mind and strength to yank the blade out, and hurl it into the offending trooper’s chest. With a swift stroke of the Darksaber, she brings down another trooper before crumpling to her knees.

Ahsoka stretches out her hand, and a trooper goes flying. She whirls around to face the next one, but he drops dead, shot down by Koska.

Ahsoka drops to a knee next to Bo-Katan, who’s going into shock. Ahsoka immediately places her hands at the wound and puts pressure on it. “Bo, I’m sorry, I’m so sorry,” she repeats, as Bo-Katan’s face twists in agony.

“HELP ME!” Ahsoka yells at Koska, who is momentarily rooted to the ground in shock. But she springs into action and scoops up Bo-Katan gently, while Ahsoka deflects blaster fire from the remaining troopers. 

They make it into the ship, and Rex pilots them out of the burning city, and away from Mandalore.

From then on, Ahsoka loses track of time. She’s only focused on trying to keep Bo-Katan alive.

But she’s dying. 

They’re unable to stop the bleeding, and she’s losing blood at an exponential rate.

“I hate to say it, but there’s only one way to stop the bleeding,” Maya says to Ahsoka in a low voice.

“What - “ Ahsoka’s initial confusion gives way to understanding when Maya’s gaze flickers down to the lightsaber hanging at her belt. Her eyes widen in horror. “No,” she whispers.

Despite suggesting it, Maya looks pained at the idea. “Cauterizing is the only way we’re going to keep her alive until we reach Hoth, which is still hours away.”

Ahsoka begins to shake her head, when someone whispers her name. She looks down. Bo-Katan is staring at her, sweat trickling down her face, green eyes dulled with pain, but still alert. “Do it,” she rasps out, “I trust you.”

“You know, I never completed my Jedi training, I never picked up on the first aid stuff,” Ahsoka tries to joke, to put off this horrible thing that Maya wants her to do.

Bo simply smiles, her hand reaches out to brush Ahsoka’s. “Do it.”

Knowing there’s no other way, Ahsoka relents. “Koska, help me hold her down.” 

Koska looks hesitant, but at a nod from Maya, she moves into position. Ahsoka hands Bo-Katan a piece of cloth. “You might want to bite on this,” she says softly.

Bo-Katan clamps her teeth on it, takes a deep breath, and nods curtly at Ahsoka.

She ignites the lightsaber, and holds it to the open wound, still pouring blood. “One, two.” She doesn’t finish counting, and carefully drops the lightsaber onto Bo-Katan's skin.

Her agonized screams will haunt Ahsoka till the end of her days. She’s thankful that it doesn’t take long before Bo-Katan passes out from the pain.

By the time the wound is properly cauterized, Ahsoka looks up, and sees that the other Mandalorian’s faces are white as a sheet. Maya scrambles away to throw up into a bag. Koska buries her face in her hands, and Benn closes his eyes to stave off the rising nausea.

* * *

_9 ABY_

Ahsoka opens her eyes again, trying to calm her racing heartbeat, Bo-Katan’s screams still ring through her mind.

Her gaze drops to the unconscious Bo-Katan again, and sighs deeply. How is this happening again?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm honestly a little unclear on the timeline of the Purge, so I'm just assuming that it started in earnest in 1 ABY. Apologies if the timeline is janky.


	7. Vigils and Whispers

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> As Bo-Katan recovers, Ahsoka faithfully keeps watch over her, and hard conversations are had.

While Bo-Katan had been unconscious, Axe had told them everything, before he too fell asleep from exhaustion. They had been ambushed, a new Arc Pulse Generator had indeed been built, though less powerful than the original. It could not yet kill Mandalorians wearing beskar, but it was enough to incapacitate them. After getting captured, they hatched an escape plan, which was to sneak Koska out of the city and set up communications again. 

But the plan failed, Koska had her leg broken as punishment, Axe beaten for strangling a guard in retaliation, and Bo-Katan tortured repeatedly with the Arc Pulse Generator.

“Which is why we found her when we did,” Fenn shoots Maya a dark look.

Since tending to Koska, Maya had gone silent and still, lost in her own dark thoughts. Now her hands ball into shaking fists, as she struggles to keep her anger in check. “So they knew exactly who she was?”

“The whole thing was a set-up.” Axe sighs, rubbing his face tiredly. “They knew we’d come if we heard about it. Knew we wouldn’t be able to let it go, for obvious reasons.”

“The Duchess,” Tristan growls in disdain, still angry with his sister for creating and naming the weapon.

“Was it him?” Maya asks quietly.

Axe’s eyes flash. “I overheard them saying he wanted us transported to his ship. No doubt he wanted to finish the job.”

“Who’s he?” Din asks.

“Moff Gideon.”

“What?” Din spins his seat around. “Moff Gideon has been searching for her?”

“Yeah, you know him?” Fenn asks, curious.

Din’s fist clenches on his knee. “He’s been searching for the kid. I came across experiments they conducted in Nevarro using his blood.”

Maya looks disgusted. “They used him for experiments?”

“Did you see what they were using the blood for?” Ahsoka asks.

“I can’t say for sure, but there were creatures floating in tanks, and there was a scientist speaking about midi-chlorians, whatever those are.” 

Ahsoka looks troubled. “Where was this base?”

“Nevarro. We blew it up."

She hums. Din frowns. He's sure she definitely knows more than she’s letting on. But he’s unable to continue his line of questioning, as Ahsoka looks out the window. “We’re almost here.”

Fenn scrambles to his feet, reaching for the comms. “This is Fenn. We’re coming in hot, get a medical team to the flight deck, now.”

“Yes sir.”

The moment the ship touches down, Maya opens the cargo door, and a team of medics rush up the ship with med units. Koska and Bo-Katan are immediately lifted up onto the units, but Axe waves them off stubbornly, grumbling, “I can walk.”

Ahsoka takes a step towards following them, but she hesitates and turns back to Din. He nods his head in understanding. “Go with them. Grogu and I aren’t going anywhere.”

She flashes him a grateful smile, and turns to swiftly follow the medics.

* * *

Ahsoka keeps vigil over Bo-Katan’s bedside. The others know not to disturb her. She’s unsure of how much time has passed, when Bo-Katan twitches, and her eyes start to flutter open. Ahsoka pulls her chair closer, and watches as the initial confusion in Bo-Katan’s eyes slowly gives way to recognition. A sleepy smile crosses her face. 

“Ahsoka,” she drawls softly.

“How are you feeling?” Ahsoka smiles tenderly at her.

“Like I got run over by a Bantha.”

Ahsoka chuckles. “I’m glad the drugs are keeping your sense of humour intact, Lady Kryze.”

Bo-Katan shifts slightly in her bed to get into a more comfortable position, but groans when it jostles the healing blaster wound. “You know I hate being called that,” she scowls.

She hears the chair scraping as Ahsoka stands up, and fills up a glass of water for her. “Exactly. Come on, drink up.”

Bo-Katan doesn’t realize how thirsty she was until she’s slurping greedily at the water. Ahsoka places a gentle hand on her shoulder. “Slow down there. You also drink like a Bantha.”

“That’s why you love me.” Bo-Katan allows herself a self-satisfied smirk when she sees a blush creep up Ahsoka’s neck.

But she recovers quickly. “Yes, you are a lumbering mess sometimes. Remember when you lost your balance and fell off the speeder?” She grins slyly at the memory of their first fight.

“You cheated,” Bo-Katan retorts grumpily.

“Did I? Mighty Mandalorian felled by a young Jedi, oh the shame!”

“Well if you didn’t cheat and use your magic hands - “

“ _ Magic  _ hands?” Ahsoka chortles, “really?” 

Bo-Katan snorts, and Ahsoka wiggles her fingers at Bo-Katan, still chuckling. “These magic hands saved your ass, Mandalorian.”

“You’re right. You saved me again, Master Jedi.” Ahsoka’s chuckles quieten down when Bo-Katan’s heavy gaze meets hers.

Ahsoka’s eyes soften, and her fingers soothingly pass over the ridges of the scar above her temple. “You’re worth saving, Bo. Everytime.”

Bo-Katan opens her mouth to say something, but she suddenly stiffens, eyes growing wide as she remembers something terrible. “Koska!” she hisses urgently. “Her leg was all kriffed up, it was horrible -”

Ahsoka grabs her hand and squeezes it to stop her from spiralling. “She’s alive. The doctors are with her.”

Her words bring little comfort to Bo-Katan. “It was terrible. I heard it break. And I - I couldn’t do anything.” Her voice is anguished, shaky.

“She’s alive, that’s all that matters - “

“All that matters,” Bo-Katan scoffs. “I got them into that situation, it was a bad call.” She squeezes her eyes shut, “I made a huge mistake, and it nearly got everyone killed."

Ahsoka runs her fingers gently through her hair. "Yes, it was a bad call, but the important thing is that everyone got out of there alive, and will be able to fight another day."

Bo-Katan snorts self-deprecatingly. “Unfortunately I’m not going to be fighting anyone for a while.” She immediately berates herself for her careless words when Ahsoka’s expression turns forlorn.

“I - I’m sorry, I - “ she stutters.

“What do you possibly have to be sorry for?” Ahsoka asks, looking a little confused.

Now she just feels stupid. “I don’t - I upset you.“

“Oh Bo, I’m not upset. The furthest from it. Right now, you focus on recovering, and when you're ready, you get back out there.”

“What if I can’t?” The sentiment, normally tucked far back in the recesses of her mind, spills out of her lips.

“You’re the leader of your people Bo, they need you. You can’t think about giving up,” Ahsoka says to her in mild chastisement. 

Bo-Katan’s gaze drops, and Ahsoka can feel her pulling away, wracked with self-doubt. “I can’t see an end to this. At least not a happy one. I can’t be the leader my sister was, the one my people need me to be. People keep getting hurt. All I’ve done is lose Mandalore, again and again. Satine, Korkie, the Darksaber, my people…” she trails off unhappily.

Sensing Bo-Katan’s presence through the Force, Ahsoka had always felt drawn to her strength and confidence, but now she only feels despondency and self-loathing, her confidence and sense of right and wrong thoroughly shaken by the recent close call.  She tightens her grip on Bo-Katan’s hand. “Listen to me.” Startled at her commanding tone, Bo-Katan raises her tired gaze to meet hers. “Your people chose you as their leader, and it’s your responsibility to unite them and rebuild your planet. The road is tough, but you’re strong, smart, and stubborn as hell. The Darksaber doesn’t make you a leader.” Her gentle but firm finger prods the left side of Bo-Katan’s chest. “This makes you a great leader.”

Her words are meant to give Bo-Katan some measure of comfort, but they’re unable to stave off the waves of anger and grief emanating from Bo-Katan. Ahsoka’s heart feels close to breaking too. 

“It sounds stupid and childish, but I wish I could just wake up from this nightmare, and be in my bed again as a child, do this all over again,” Bo-Katan whispers.

Ahsoka sighs. “I know what you mean. So many conflicts could have been avoided, but such is the power of hindsight.” Bo-Katan makes a sad noise at the back of her throat. “I’m sorry you and your people got dragged into this mess.”

Bo-Katan feels a tightness in her throat, even as she gives her friend a small sad smile. “It’s not your fault, Mandalore may well have torn itself apart, even without the Separatists or the Empire.” Every word she speaks takes her closer to the brink of a breakdown. “No one could have seen it coming.” 

She means the fall of the Republic as much as the massacre of the Jedi Order. Ahsoka has lost as much as she has - friends, family, a place to call home. 

“At least I’ve still got you.” Ahsoka says without thinking, her fingers absentmindedly toying with the fabric of Bo’s blanket. She freezes when she realizes what she’s said.

Bo-Katan’s gaze immediately flickers to hers, and Ahsoka feels her heart thudding in her chest, like she had leaned too far back on her chair’s two legs. She opens her mouth, ready to apologize, to play it off, anything, but Bo-Katan beats her to it.

“You’ll always have me _ , _ ” she murmurs with a soft, affectionate smile.

It feels like a promise, the crossing of a line.

But maybe the line was always blurred to begin with, ever since Bo-Katan invited Ahsoka to operate out of their base, since she assigned Maya to essentially serve as Ahsoka's Protector, since she panicked and desperately tried to contact Ahsoka when she heard about Order 66, and the immense relief she felt when she answered. Logically, she knows it’s unwise to form such an attachment to anyone, a Jedi least of all, but she reminds herself of what happened to her sister and Obi-Wan. Life is too short, don’t waste precious time. 

The way that Ahsoka looks at her, the way she’s held vigil by her bedside, came to rescue her, she knows Ahsoka must feel the same way. All these thoughts run through her head, before she belatedly realizes that Ahsoka can probably sense her emotions through the Force. She feels her cheeks flush a deep crimson when a wide grin splits across Ahsoka’s face, confirming her suspicion. Damned Jedi tricks.

To save her from further embarrassment, Ahsoka leans forward with a wicked grin. “You’re lucky you’re cute.”

“Cute - ?” Bo-Katan splutters indignantly.

Ahsoka laughs and their easy banter continues for a while before Bo-Katan is unable to hold back a yawn.

“Get some sleep, Bo.”

“But I’m not tired,” she argues, feeling petulant. Their moments alone are rare, and she doesn’t want to waste their time together by falling asleep.

Ahsoka senses her reluctance and settles deeper into the chair. “Sleep. I’m not going anywhere.”

* * *

Long after Bo-Katan had fallen asleep, Ahsoka continues to watch over her.

A million thoughts run through her mind. Did she make a mistake, essentially declaring what she felt? Did Bo-Katan mean what she said, or was she delirious from the painkillers? Her thoughts wander to Grogu and his guardian, and feels a twinge of guilt for spending time here instead of training the child as she had promised.

A gentle knock on the door interrupts her thoughts. She cranes her neck to see Maya slipping in through the open door. She pads across the room softly, holding two steaming mugs of caf, one of which she hands to a grateful Ahsoka. 

Maya’s gaze sweeps over Bo-Katan, taking in the heavy bandages peeking from under the blanket, and the burn marks across her exposed skin.  Ahsoka feels the quiet anger simmering beneath the woman’s skin.

“How is she?”

“Better, but she’s got a long way to go,” Ahsoka replies.

“This shouldn’t have happened,” Maya’s tone is hushed, angry. “It’s my fault. I should have tried harder to talk some sense into her. If I had, this wouldn’t have happened.”

“Maya, it's not your fault.” Ahsoka frowns. What is with Mandalorians and their penchant for self-blame?

“Might as well be. I should have tried harder - ”

“We both know that once she sets her mind on something, she’s not changing course,” Ahsoka counters with a tinge of exasperation. Maya shakes her head in resignation and collapses into the chair next to Ahsoka. 

“How are the others?” Ahsoka asks.

Maya looks spent, physically and mentally. “Axe wouldn’t let any of the medics treat him until he knew Koska was going to be alright. Then he collapsed on the floor with breathing difficulties because he had multiple cracked ribs that he didn’t tell us about.”

Ahsoka winces. “Koska?” 

Maya flinches. Ahsoka had seen how Maya went apoplectic with rage in the waiting room when the medical staff had refused to give her an update on Koska’s surgery. Fenn had to drag her away before she attacked one of the doctors.

“She’ll pull through. It was touch and go for a moment, the doctors were afraid they wouldn’t be able to save the leg.” She shudders from the memory of Koska’s mangled limb. “But they believe that she’ll be able to make a full recovery.”

Ahsoka relaxes back into her chair. “That’s a relief to hear.” Maya hums in agreement, and leans back deeply into the armchair, taking a sip of her caf.

They lapse into a comfortable silence, with the beeping of the machines hooked to Bo-Katan providing a rhythmic comfort.

“We couldn’t have rescued them without you today, so thank you, Ahsoka.”

Ahsoka turns to see Maya looking at her gratefully. “You don’t need to thank me. That’s what friends are for.”

Even in the dim lighting, Ahsoka can see the crooked smile on Maya’s lips. “You and I are friends, you and Bo…” she trails off with a mischievous look on her face. “You’re something else."

Ahsoka turns away with a cough, trying in vain to hide her burning cheeks. “I’m not sure I know what you’re talking about.”

“Sure you don’t.”

“I’m not - we’re not - “ Ahsoka desperately wants to make Maya understand. “We’re not - together - you know.” Kriffing hell _ ,  _ she sounds pathetic.

“No I don’t know, and you’re a terrible liar.” Maya says smugly. "Why else would I be your Protector? Come on, you’ve spent enough time with us to know our history. Protectors are assigned to members of the ruling family. You know what that means,  _ cyar'ika _ .”

Ahsoka hides her flushed expression in her mug of steaming caf, refusing to grace Maya with a response. She knows exactly what that term means, and she’s spent enough sleepless nights mulling on what it meant for Bo-Katan and herself. The only time Bo-Katan had ever called her that was when Ahsoka had to carry an extremely drunk Bo back into her ship from a bar fight she’d started on the tenth anniversary of Satine’s death.

WIth a chuckle, Maya nudges Ahsoka gently with her foot. “I’m just teasing you. Whatever is between Bo and you, that’s none of my business.”

Ahsoka glares at her. “That’s a blatant lie! Anything involving Bo is your business, as you’ve made clear multiple times.”

Maya sniggers and holds up her hands in a placating gesture. “Alright, I lied. I do care. I’d say that I will kill you if you break her heart, but you’d definitely kill  _ me _ with your Jedi magic, so, here’s my empty threat.” 

After finishing her caf, Maya pushes herself to her feet, clapping Ahsoka on the shoulder gently. “I’m going to get myself another cup of caf, and then head back to Koska’s room. I’ll see you in the morning?”

Ahsoka squeezes the hand on her shoulder. “Make sure you get some sleep too, my friend.”

“I will,” Maya says with a small smile, and walks towards the door. Right before she leaves, she turns back around. “I’m really glad you stuck around, Ahsoka.”

Ahsoka lets her gaze settle on the sleeping Bo-Katan. “Me too.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm very much enjoying using Maya as a character that is comfortable enough with both Bo-Katan and Ahsoka to tease them about their relationship / non-relationship at this point. She's a shipper, I guess!


	8. Dreams of the Purge

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nightmares can be relentless, and Bo-Katan struggles to escape the memories of the night of the Purge.

_ 9 ABY _

Days and weeks pass, and Ahsoka remains a constant for Bo-Katan during the daytime as she inches towards recovery. Despite positive signs of improvement, it becomes clear to Ahsoka from the dark rings underneath Bo-Katan’s eyes that she hasn’t been getting the necessary sleep to speed up the recovery. Every attempt she makes at broaching the topic ends up with Bo-Katan shutting the conversation down.

Bo-Katan’s sleep is restless. Every night, she tosses and turns, plagued with a nightmare that replays itself over and over again.

* * *

_ 1 ABY _

She opened her eyes. Her head was ringing. Sitting up, she groaned as her aching body protested. She felt something dripping down her face, glueing her left eye shut. She swiped at it, and her glove came away crimson. 

She staggered to her feet, wincing when she felt a sharp pain in her leg. She looked down to see a piece of shrapnel embedded in her thigh. Gritting her teeth, she yanked it out, biting back a yelp of agony. She looked around her. Fires were burning, debris falling from burning buildings, people shouting, screaming in terror.

“Bo! Bo!” she turned around to see Maya, Ursa and Axe running towards her. They were all looking worse for wear. Maya bent over, panting. “It’s the Empire, they’re back.”

“What?”

Axe pointed to the dome above them. “They’re bombing the city, they’re trying to bring it down on us.” 

“What happened to our shields?” Bo-Katan shouted. “How did this kriffing happen?”

“I don’t know, they must have been disabled,” Maya said grimly, wiping sweat from her brow. A long stream of profanity flowed from Bo-Katan’s lips.

“Tristan and Fenn are preparing the ships, we need to get out of here,” Ursa urged Bo-Katan, who looked downright offended at her suggestion.

“This is our home. We’re defending it, not running with our tails between our legs!” she snarled.

Ursa opened her mouth to argue, but a sickening explosion rocked the ground beneath their feet, and a huge chunk of the domed ceiling crashed down to the streets below, revealing the night sky, and TIE fighters shooting into Sundari.

“The city is lost,” Ursa reasoned with Bo-Katan, who was staring wide-eyed at the incoming Imperial forces. “Bo, we have to go.”

She shook her head, dazed. “We can’t - I can’t.” She turned to them, eyes wild with desperation. “I can’t leave our people.”

“If we stay, they’re going to kill us all, we won’t be able to do anything!” Ursa grabbed a hold of her shoulder, to make her listen.

“We ran for seventeen years! I’m not running, not again!” Bo-Katan shouted, shoving Ursa back forcefully. Her hand ran through her hair, trying to decide a course of action. “I’m not leaving this city undefended. I’m not running.” 

Ursa looked dismayed at her choice, opening her mouth to argue, to get it into her thick skull that this is a suicide mission, but Bo-Katan laid a surprisingly gentle hand on her shoulder. “Find your family, get out of here with as many as you can. I’ll buy you some time.”

“Bo...” Ursa began pleadingly.

“You’ve always been better at diplomacy than I was. Tell the other Clans what happened here tonight, find our allies.” Bo gave her a watery smile. “Axe, go with her.”

He looked reluctant, but at a sharp look from Bo-Katan, he conceded and pulled Ursa along with him, disappearing into the smoke and shadows.

Maya remained standing by her side. 

Bo-Katan turned to her. “ _ Ner vod _ , this may be a one way trip.”

Maya grinned at her with a fatalistic and slightly manic look in her eyes. “Not like I had big plans tonight. I’m with you, Bo.”

Bo-Katan’s heart constricted, and she tugged on her helmet in a bid to hide her emotions. “Alright, let’s go.”

Throughout the night, the two of them waged guerrilla warfare on the incoming troopers, rallying the remainder of the Nite Owls to their side as they fought their way through the city. They managed to hold the first and second circles, allowing civilians to pass through to the hangar bay to get into ships to flee the planet. The third and fourth circles were lost to the Empire. Holding their position was difficult enough, with increasing numbers of troopers being dropped into the city by gunships that enter through the hole in the dome.

Bo-Katan had commanded the remaining battalion of Protectors to defend the first gate as a last line of defence. Meanwhile, she and her Nite Owls continued to hold the second gate. Koska turned to them from where she was peering out over the rampart with her macrobinoculars. “I don’t know how much longer we can hold them off.”

“As long as we can,” Bo-Katan said, looking out at the group she’s gathered. Her warriors were exhausted, having been battling through the night. She looked up at the rising dawn, and tugged off her helmet to feel the rays of sunshine warm her face.

“They say each dawn brings a new hope.”

Bo-Katan turned to Maya with mild surprise, and Maya’s body language suddenly appeared self-conscious.

“What?” Maya snapped defensively.

Bo-Katan chuckled softly and looked away. “No, it just sounds very... _ jetii. _ ”

Maya scoffed. “It’s you who’ve been spending too much time with the  _ jetii _ . I probably picked it up from you!”  Koska sniggered in the background, and Bo-Katan rolled her eyes. Maya craned her neck to look at the sky too. “You think she’s still out there?”

“Who?”

“Don’t play coy with me. You know exactly who.” Maya pointed a teasing finger at her. Bo-Katan knows she’s smirking underneath her helmet.

“She’s out there, I know it,” Bo-Katan murmured distantly. Her chest tightened at the idea of never seeing Ahsoka again. Over the years, homeless, hunted, trying to fulfill their purpose in the galaxy, they had grown close, closer than Bo-Katan dared to admit to herself.

Koska interrupted her thoughts then, jumping down from the ramparts, tucking her macrobinoculars into a pouch at her side. “Actually, we’re not too far from the armoury. We might want to think about re-stocking.”

Bo-Katan perked up at that, and her eyes brightened.

Maya groaned. “I know that look. You’ve got a stupid plan, don’t you.”

“Shut up and listen.”

* * *

_ 9 ABY _

Bo-Katan’s eyes fly open. For a moment, she just stares at the ceiling, tries to calm her racing heart, and reminds herself that she’s back on the base, and safe. She turns her head to look at the outline of Ahsoka in the darkness, legs stretched out and propped up on her bed, motionless in her sleep. She closes her eyes again, wishing fervently for peace in her dreams, even if she can’t find it in her waking reality.  She startles when Ahsoka’s quiet voice rings out in the silent darkness of the room.

“Same nightmares again?”

Bo-Katan looks at Ahsoka, whose outline has now shifted, as she leans closer to lay a hand over Bo-Katan’s. 

“Yeah,” Bo-Katan admits, realizing that there’s no point trying to deceive Ahsoka, she must already know.  _ Jetii _ powers and all.

“You’re going to have to talk about it eventually, you know.” Ahsoka’s thumb brushes gently over Bo-Katan’s knuckles.

“I know,” is all Bo-Katan manages to say.

Ahsoka remains silent for a while, her thumb still brushing circles on Bo-Katan’s hand. “I have dreams - nightmares too. It’s always Anakin. I always think I could have saved him, that I shouldn’t have left him,” she finally whispers.

Bo-Katan frowns. She turns her hand upwards to thread her fingers through Ahsoka’s, and squeezes tightly. “It’s not your fault, your master’s turn to the dark side can’t be on you.”

Ahsoka just hums sadly, and offers no resistance. A comfortable silence falls between them, as Ahsoka keeps their hands clasped, each lost in their own thoughts. Eventually, Bo-Katan feels her eyes fluttering shut, sleep pulling her in, and she feels a light dusting of lips on her forehead, and Ahsoka whispers, “sleep, and dream no more.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Realized I should put translations for the Mando'a used:
> 
> Ner vod: my friend
> 
> Jetii: Jedi


	9. Ghosts from the Past

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Mandalorians realize that someone long thought dead might actually still be alive, and that kickstarts a new mission to find out the truth and their friend.

_ 9 ABY _

In the months that follow, Ahsoka continues to train Grogu in the ways of the Jedi, and she’s pleased with how quickly he progresses. Although he had forgotten much of his training in the two decades that he had been hidden, he had picked up from where he’d left off. Despite her initial reservations about the bond between Din and Grogu, she grudgingly acknowledges that having Din’s constant encouragement and attentiveness has helped the little one perform beyond expectations.

Meanwhile, Bo-Katan has unsurprisingly progressed quickly with her recovery, and the moment she could walk on her own two feet, had started leading missions from the command center again. 

Ahsoka snickers as she ducks a flurry of punches from Bo-Katan, and raises an arm to block a kick aimed at her head. “Come on, Bo, you’ve got to try harder than that.”

They've been sparring for the past hour in the training area. Everyone else had given them a wide berth the moment they entered, knowing how intense it gets. Bo-Katan is determined to get herself back into a hundred percent fighting shape as soon as possible, and Ahsoka is more than happy to help her, while careful not to let Bo-Katan push herself too far.

“Trust me I’m trying, you’re probably cheating with your  _ jetii _ tricks,” Bo-Katan says, pulling a face while circling her. 

Ahsoka laughs, and moves on the offensive. She yelps when Bo-Katan counters and lands a jab square on her nose. Now it’s Bo-Katan’s turn to smirk. “Come on Ahsoka, you’re faster than this. Is training the kid too tiring?”

She aims another kick at Ahsoka’s head, but Ahsoka catches it and flips her onto her back. She falls heavily and lies there winded. Ahsoka moves swiftly to pin her arms and upper torso down. “Yield!” She crows. Her glee doesn't last long, and she finds herself getting pulled tight against Bo-Katan, as she rolls them over.

“Gotcha!” Bo-Katan grins in self-satisfaction. Ahsoka watches as the grin freezes on Bo-Katan’s face, and a small patch of red colours her cheeks when she realizes their proximity.

With a sly smirk, Ahsoka takes advantage of her momentary distraction to roll them over again, pinning Bo-Katan to the floor more firmly this time. Bo-Katan tries to buck her off, but to no avail. Her head drops back down onto the mat with a tired huff.

“I want to hear you say it.” Ahsoka playfully puts her ear close to Bo-Katan’s lips. She allows herself a self-satisfied grin when she feels Bo-Katan freeze slightly.

“Fine, fine, I yield,” she grumbles. Ahsoka pumps her fist in victory, and rolls smoothly onto her knees, watching Bo-Katan sit up with a surly expression.

“Quite the sore loser, aren’t you.” Ahsoka teases her.

Bo-Katan merely grunts in response and climbs to her feet, drawing another snigger from Ahsoka. She lifts up her shirt to wipe her face, and Ahsoka’s eyes are instantly drawn to the pink ropy scars at her side.

“At least you didn’t use your _ jetii _ tricks this time, that would be really unf - “ Bo-Katan’s words die on her lips when she realizes Ahsoka has gone silent and still. She looks down to what Ahsoka is looking at, and drops the shirt immediately.

Ahsoka feels heat rise to her cheeks when Bo-Katan catches her staring. She clears her throat. “You know, I could get rid of them.”

Bo-Katan quirks an eyebrow up, curious. “What do you mean?”

“I can heal things,” Ahsoka says simply.

Bo-Katan sidles closer to her, pulling her up to her feet. “I know you can. I’ve seen it. But I want to keep them. They remind me of you." Her cheeks flush, and not from the physical exertion. "Everyday they remind me that you saved me.”

Ahsoka stares at her, lost for words. Bo-Katan’s smile widens and she bops her nose cheekily. “Close your mouth, you may catch a fly.”

With a noise of indignation, Ahsoka tackles Bo-Katan playfully, and a clear peal of laughter rings out from Bo-Katan. Their playful jostling is interrupted by a knock on the door, and Benn sticks his head into the training room. “Lady Bo-Katan, come to the command center, now please.”

“What is it?”

Benn remains tight-lipped. “All I can say is that it’s urgent and important.”

Ahsoka throws a curious look at Bo-Katan, who shrugs, similarly perplexed. They join Benn in the command center, where Maya, Fenn, Din and the others are already gathered.

At the grave look on everyone’s faces, Bo-Katan frowns. “Do I need to be worried?”

Fenn and Din exchange a nervous look, before Fenn turns to her. “It’s about Korkie.”

A chill immediately passes through Bo-Katan’s spine. “Korkie’s gone. Why are you bringing this up now?”

“Because he’s alive,” Din says.

“That’s impossible.”

Din shakes his head. “I know what I saw.”

“Explain it to me then, and you better be right,” Bo-Katan says tightly. She doesn’t want to allow herself to hope, not again. She doesn’t have the strength to fight another spectre from her past.

“Axe was showing me holo-images of Mandalore from before the Empire, and this photo caught my eye.” Din pulls up an image of Korkie, standing tall at his graduation ceremony from the Government Academy. Bo-Katan bites back a lump in her throat when she sees it.

Din takes her silence as a cue to continue. “About a year ago, I was recruited to break someone out of an Imperial prison carrier. I saw him with my own two eyes.” He points to Korkie’s photo. “He looked older, his hair was long, had a beard, but it was him.”

“How are you so sure of someone that you’ve never even met?” Bo-Katan asks, her voice hard.

“Because he was missing a hand.” 

Bo-Katan’s breathing hitches. Beside her, she hears Ahsoka’s similarly shocked inhale of breath. Her automatic response is denial. “Many people have lost a hand in the war, or for any other reason.” She turns to Fenn, seeking confirmation. “Fenn, come on, we found his body on Coruscant…”

Fenn looks like he’s about to be sick. “Bo, the body we  _ thought _ was Korkie’s was burnt beyond recognition, we have to consider this as a possibility.”

“But we found the - ” she gestures at her neck, “we found the necklace, the one Satine gave him. It belonged to  _ buir _ , the only one of its kind.” Fear slowly creeps up on her. “What have I done? He’s been alive all these years, alone, in captivity? Oh gods.”

Maya turns to Din. “Which prison vessel was this?”

“It’s called the  _ Kessel _ . It was listed as a New Republic prison ship, but turned out to be manned by troopers, so I guess it was Imperial.”

“Where is it now, and how do we find out if Korkie’s really onboard?” Maya asks.

“I have a friend who's a New Republic Marshall. I think she can access the database.”

“Please speak to her and find out,” Fenn asks, although it sounds more like a demand. 

Din nods and keys in the numbers into his commlink. The hologram flickers to life. Cara Dune frowns at him in greeting. “This better be good, Mando.”

“Hang on,” he says, holding up a finger while he patches his commlink to the holo-table.

“Oh,” Cara says when the room comes into view, and sees the Mandalorians next to Din.

“Cara, I need your help - “

“Of course you do,” she says sardonically. 

“I need you to find someone for me. He was on an Imperial prison barge about six months ago.”

She raises an eyebrow. “How am I supposed to find out who’s on an Imperial prison barge?”

“It was officially listed as New Republic prison barge, the  _ Kessel _ . He might be in the system.”

Cara looks doubtful, but she relents with a sigh. “Let me try. What’s his name?”

“Korkie Kryze, Mandalore,” Bo-Katan says, stepping into full view of the hologram.

Cara looks up from her keyboard in surprise. “Lady Bo-Katan.” Her head snaps to Din, giving him a sharp look, and he knows she’s going to be grilling him later on it. She turns back to Bo-Katan, preserving a level of professionalism. “I can’t find anyone with that name on this register. Does he have distinctive physical traits? The register keeps note of any traits that may distinguish them, in case they escape.”

“He’s missing his right hand, how’s that for distinctive traits?” Bo-Katan offers rather grimly. Cara’s eyes flicker up, looking sympathetic, before she turns back to the keyboard.

“Found him.”

Bo-Katan’s hands reach up to grip the chair in front of her tightly, knuckles turning white. “What?”

“He doesn’t have a name tagged to him, just a number, KTT5208. I have a photo, is this him?” 

Din opens the incoming file from Cara, and the shocked gasps and murmurs around the room all but confirm his identity.

“Korkie,” Bo-Katan breathes.

He looks considerably thinner from when they last saw him two years ago. His hair has grown long, a shaggy beard frames his jaw. He looks battered, exhausted, dark rings under his eyes, but he holds his head high in the photograph.

“I take it he’s your man,” Cara says. “I’m pulling his last known location. It says the  _ Kessel _ was last seen transferring prisoners to Megalox Beta.”

“Then that’s where we’re going,” Maya says, perking up at the idea of an all-out assault.

Cara sees her excitement, and holds up a hand in warning. “You’re not thinking of going there are you?”

Bo-Katan turns to her, eyes flinty. “He’s my nephew. I’m getting him back.”

“That place is heavily guarded, and probably still manned by Imps. It’s not in a sector where New Republic forces are patrolling. How are you going to get him out?”

“We’ll figure it out. Thank you Marshall Dune,” Bo-Katan says dismissively. Din offers Cara an apologetic shrug and a mumbled _“explain later”_ , before he hurriedly switches off the commlink.

A moment of silence falls over the room, waiting for the hammer to fall.

“ _ Harr’chak!  _ How the fuck did this happen!” Bo-Katan bellows, sweeping everything off the table in a fury.

“Bo - “

Fenn doesn’t have an opportunity to finish. Bo-Katan is on him like a flash, seizing him by his collar. “What happened, Fenn? You found his body, you found the karking necklace on him, how?”

He looks as distressed as Bo-Katan feels. “I don’t know how! I remember searching for survivors, we searched all the bodies, looking for anything that would identify them, and - ”

“And what? Think Fenn! What did we miss? How could we - ” Bo-Katan asks desperately, and her voice catches. “How did we miss this?”

Fenn Rau closes his eyes, trying to remember. Bo-Katan’s anxiety is spiking by the second, when someone finally speaks up.

“I planted it.”

She spins around. Everyone’s gaze snaps to the one who spoke up.

It’s Ursa Wren.

Bo-Katan feels floored. 

“ _ What _ ? What did you say?” she asks, unable to believe the words that her friend just uttered.

Ursa straightens, lifting her chin, staring at Bo-Katan defiantly. “I said, I was the one who planted the necklace on the body.”

In Bo-Katan’s stunned silence, Maya steps in, a furious scowl set on her face. “You’re  kriffing kidding me right? You made us all believe that Korkie was dead? Why - ” she cuts herself off, gathering her thoughts before continuing. “How the hell did you even get that necklace?”

“Korkie gave it to me before he left for Coruscant. Told me to keep it safe.” Ursa replies.

Maya wants to punch the self-righteous look off her face, but she keeps her fists clenched at her side. “So, he gave you something in trust, and you used it to betray him, betray Bo?” her voice rises in pitch, a finger pointed at the Wren matriarch accusingly.

Ursa is about to respond when she’s interrupted by a low growl, as Bo-Katan pushes past Ahsoka’s staying hand and stalks dangerously towards her. Fenn and Koska exchange nervous looks, and immediately move to flank her, ready to break up the impending fight.

“What did you  _ do _ ?” Every word that drips from Bo-Katan’s mouth is venomous.

Ursa holds her ground. “I did what I judged to be right.”

“What you judged to be right,” she echoes Ursa’s words scornfully. Before anyone can react, she’s backed Ursa up against the wall. “You let me believe my nephew was  _ dead _ ! _ Why _ would you do that! Because of you, I abandoned him!” she bellows, spit flying over Ursa’s face.

Ursa’s eyes narrow. “Because of me, we’re all alive!”

“What!” Bo-Katan can’t believe her ears. 

Ursa takes the opportunity to push Bo-Katan back a step.  “If it weren’t for me, we would have spent a lifetime searching for him. Wasting our resources looking for one man!”

“I would have done the same for you!” Bo-Katan shouts, and that seems to take Ursa by surprise. Her voice quietens, “I would have done it for any of you _. _ ”

Whatever regret Ursa feels, she pushes it aside. “No, you did it because he’s your last link to Satine.”

Bo-Katan’s eyes grow wide, intense hurt rolling off her in waves. Again, Ursa feels briefly ashamed of what she’s doing, but she’s too far gone now. She goes on the offensive, twisting the knife in deeper, ignoring the angry murmurings against her in the room.

“You couldn’t get over the guilt and shame you felt, and still feel, about betraying your own kin, that’s why you worked so hard, worked all of us so hard, to find Korkie. It’s true and you know it. Your mistakes and your guilt would have doomed us all - ”

_ Crack. _

Bo-Katan’s fist slams into her jaw. 

Ursa reels back unsteadily before regaining her footing. She lunges at Bo-Katan, but she’s held back firmly by Koska and Fenn. Bo-Katan in turn is held back by Maya. She tries to break away, but Maya tightens her grip, whispering an imploring “ _ no” _ in her ear. 

“You’re right, he was the only family I had left!” Bo-Katan cries out, still unable to comprehend the betrayal. “But I trusted you!”

Her words sink in. Ahsoka feels it all. The betrayal, guilt, heartache, and loss. It’s overwhelming.

Bo-Katan is on the brink of tears now, red-hot anger giving way to cold, numb grief. Her shoulders slump, her arms fall to her sides limply, and Maya releases her cautiously. She points a finger at Ursa, but it’s no longer accusatory, just tired. 

“For family, for Sabine, Tristan, you would have done the same.” 

With that, she storms out of the room, leaving a stunned silence behind her.

The door shuts, and everyone’s gaze turns to Ursa, who’s standing alone, and growing uncomfortable under the weight of their anger and her own creeping shame.

“Go talk to Bo,” Maya whispers to Ahsoka.

Ahsoka looks conflicted. “I think she needs some alone time.”

“Wrong, you’re exactly what she needs.” Maya nudges her gently. “Go, I’ll stay here and start working on a plan with Fenn.”

* * *

Bo-Katan doesn’t know how long she’s been battering the hapless punching bag in her quarters. Ignoring the warm blood trickling down her knuckles, she continues to mindlessly attack the bag.

She ignores the insistent rapping on her door.

“I know you’re in there, Bo. Open up!”

The rapping escalates to loud banging. “I can hear you in there. Open the door before I cut it open!”

Dank ferrik _. _

With a loud sigh, Bo-Katan wrenches her door open, leaving Ahsoka’s fist hanging mid-air. “What can I do for you?” she asks sarcastically.

Ahsoka’s eyes narrow as she steps in and shuts the door behind her. One hard look from Ahsoka and Bo-Katan knows she’s treading in dangerous waters. She swiftly turns her attention away from Ahsoka, back to the bag.

To her annoyance, Ahsoka doesn’t leave. Instead, she moves to stand on the other side of the bag. “Do you want to talk about it?”

“No, but this helps me think,” Bo-Katan replies in between punches. 

Ahsoka catches the bag and holds it still. “Violent thoughts beget violence actions. Do I even want to know what foolhardy plan you’re coming up with now?”

Bo-Katan ignores her question, and continues to attack the bag, but her fist is caught in mid-air by Ahsoka.

“What - “ she angrily tries to wrench her hand free, but the noise of protest dies at the back of her throat when she sees the worry on Ahsoka’s face.

“Bo. I won’t let you walk into a trap,  _ again _ .”

“We don’t know that - “

Ahsoka drops her fist and walks past her, ignoring Bo-Katan’s bewildered look. She bends down to pick up Bo-Katan’s helmet from the table. Her fingers brush over the dents and scratches, lingering over the claw marks on the left side of the helmet, courtesy of a run-in with an anooba.

“It wasn’t this damaged when we parted ways on Mandalore, before everything fell apart,” Ahsoka murmurs, and her eyes flicker up to Bo-Katan. “You think I don’t know how hard the Empire worked, is working to hunt you down, Bo? You really thought you could keep those secrets from me?”

Bo-Katan blinks and averts her eyes, cheeks burning. Over the last twenty odd years, she had tried to hide the assassination attempts from Ahsoka, spare her the worry. She thought she had succeeded, apparently not.

Cool, gentle fingers tip her cheek back up. “I can’t lose you,” Ahsoka whispers.

Bo-Katan’s shoulders sag. “I can’t do nothing.”

“I’m not asking you to do nothing. I’m only asking you to not rush into anything,” Ahsoka corrects her gently.

Bo-Katan sits down heavily on her bed, head buried in her hands. Ahsoka crouches down next to her, squeezing her knee. The comforting gesture forces Bo-Katan to drop her hands and look at Ahsoka. Warm green eyes meet bright blue ones.  Ahsoka looks at her with an overwhelming fondness. “Bo, I’ve known Korkie a long time too. I taught him at the academy when he was just a cadet, and I was a young padawan.” 

“I - Ahsoka, I’m sorry, I know you knew him well too. I didn’t mean - forgive me,” Bo-Katan says guiltily. 

Ahsoka’s hand drifts up to Bo-Katan’s cheek, thumbs rubbing over her cheekbones gently. “There’s nothing to forgive. Come, the others are coming up with a plan. We should join them, before we’re forced to go along with another of Maya’s harebrained schemes.”

That gets a chuckle out of Bo-Katan, and Ahsoka considers it a win.

* * *

“Cara sent over the schematics of the prison, but it’s from a decade ago, it’s probably outdated.” Din pulls the image onto the holotable.

“Whatever the new design is, we don’t have the numbers to raid a prison of that size,” Fenn says, frowning.

“No, we don’t.” Bo-Katan says grimly, arms crossed, her eyes fixed on the map, thinking hard. “But they also won’t be expecting us.”

“How about a break-in?” Ahsoka suggests. “Get in, get out. Nothing more.”

“Nothing more,” Bo-Katan repeats, an amused glint in her eyes. “You’re wired differently than most, Ahsoka.”

Ahsoka shrugs, a sly look on her face “What do you say?”

Bo-Katan drums her fingers on her vambrace as she purses her lips thinking. “It could work,” she muses and falls silent for a while. After a while, she perks up, and lays her hands flat on the table. “Here’s my plan.”

After she explains her plan at length, the Mandalorians in the room stare at her with varying degrees of incredulity, exasperation, and grudging respect.

“It’s got ingenuity, I’ll give you that,” Fenn says, pinching the bridge of his nose, as though that would ward off his splitting headache.

Bo-Katan looks to Maya, whose eyes are fixed on the map, her jaw clenched. She can almost hear the gears turning in Maya’s head. She finally nods, eyes gleaming. “Let’s do it.”

They finalize the plans for the operation, and Bo-Katan sends them away to get some rest. Maya taps her on the shoulder. “Let’s get a drink, before it all goes to hell.”

They settle down in Bo-Katan and Maya’s favourite spot outside the base, a small clearing surrounded by growing saplings. Maya bends over to get the fire started, and Bo-Katan wraps her cloak tighter around herself. Maya hums in satisfaction when the flames start roaring in earnest. She accepts a glass of tihaar from Bo-Katan and raises it. “ _ Oya _ !”

Bo-Katan echoes her, and they tip their glasses back. Enjoying the burn of the alcohol down her throat, Bo-Katan leans back on her hands, looking up at the twinkling stars in the night sky.

“It’s a good plan, Bo. Don’t second-guess yourself.” Maya smiles at her, raising her glass.

“I’m trying really hard not to.” Bo-Katan shrugs.

Maya throws back her drink and lies down flat on the ground, staring at the sky. “We have the element of surprise, that counts for something. Oh, and don’t think about Ursa either. I’ll deal with that  _ or’dinii _ when we’re back”

“Maya,” Bo-Katan chides her. Despite the sense of betrayal she felt, she still considered Ursa a good friend.

“ _ Ori’buyce, kih’kovid _ ,” Maya mutters, still disgruntled.

Bo-Katan smacks her on the leg. “ I would very much like for my two oldest friends not to kill each other before we find Korkie.”

Maya laughs lightly, and sits up to pour herself another glass of tihaar _. _ “I can’t wait to see that magnificent ginger boy again.”

Bo-Katan’s heart also warms at the idea of seeing Korkie again. “Me too."

"We're going to reunite your family, Bo." 

Bo-Katan blinks at the unexpected swell of emotion that threatens to break out from her chest at those words. 

Family.

It's something she hasn't thought about in a long time. But then again...

"You're family too, you know." Bo-Katan gives her old friend a soft smile. " _ Aliit ori'shya tal'din _ ."

" _ K'uur _ . You're going to make me cry," Maya says gruffly, blinking.

Bo-Katan huffs out a watery laugh. “Thank goodness no one else is here to see this. No one would take us seriously anymore.”

Maya laughs, and for a moment, Bo-Katan feels a swell of hope.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I really like Ursa as a character in the animated shows, but based on her actions in Rebels, I wouldn't put it past her to do something like what she did in this chapter. But also, I needed to use someone that Bo-Katan trusted above all, to really make the betrayal sting, so alas, it had to be good old Ursa Wren.
> 
> I also figured Korkie had to be brought in at some point. I really didn't like the insinuation in The Mandalorian that Korkie was gone! 
> 
> Mando'a translation:  
> Harr'chak: damn it
> 
> Or'dinii: moron / fool
> 
> Ori'buyce, kih'kohvid: all helmet, no head
> 
> Aliit ori'shya tal'din: family is more than blood
> 
> K'uur: hush


	10. Prison Break

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The prison break is in full swing, and as usual, things don't always go as planned.

Maya peers through her macrobinoculars, searching for her target. 

“Come on, where are you little bastards?” she mutters under her breath. “Gotcha!”

“Found them?” Koska asks. 

Maya lowers the macrobinoculars and turns to the younger woman standing next to her, practically vibrating with nervous energy.

She had been resistant about allowing Koska on this mission, it being her first since recovering from her horrific leg injury, but Koska would not be left behind, and Bo-Katan had given her the go-ahead. For all her concerns, Maya grudgingly acknowledges her own excitement at being on a mission with Koska again. It’s been far too long. Koska is often off gallivanting with Bo-Katan, while Maya typically sticks by Ahsoka.

“You’re going to be fine, _ad’ika_. Just promise me not to do anything stupid," she says sternly.

Koska sees her concern, and flashes her a reassuring grin. “You got it _."_

Maya climbs onto the speeder bike, where Zura is already perched on the back seat, and taps on her commlink. "Team 1 in position."

"Team 2 in position," Bo-Katan's voice comes tinnily over the commlink.

“Team 3 in position,” Fenn Rau reports.

“Alright, everyone’s coming home tonight. _K’oyacyi,_ ” Bo-Katan says.

“ _Oya_ ,” Maya replies, and the others echo the sentiment. 

She looks through the macrobinoculars again. The prison transport is rolling slowly towards their location. When it turns into the narrow ravine, she drops her fist, and Axe zips past her down the cliff, and together they race down towards the truck.

Maya pulls her speeder level with the front seat of the truck, and Zura leaps up, yanking the door open, and with one swift motion burying her knife into the neck of the trooper. One the other side, Koska has made short work of the driver, and stamped hard on the brake of the truck, bringing it to a grinding halt.

Bo-Katan and her team emerge from their hiding spot in the ravine. 

“Quickly, dump the bodies,” Maya tells Zura. “And try not to make a mess of these seats.” 

“I can’t believe I’m wearing this again,” Benn says drily, putting on trooper gear once again. Axe just grunts in disdain as he climbs into the driver’s seat.

“Shut up, just drive.” Maya smacks him on the back of the head, as the rest of the team climbs in, hiding in the cargo area. The truck starts moving again, and she taps her commlink to provide Fenn with an update.

The truck approaches the prison gate, and a trooper walks out of the guardhouse to peer up at the truck. Axe sticks his head out. “Returning prisoner transport,” he calls out. The trooper gives him a thumbs up and opens the gate.

“Phew, that was easy,” Bo-Katan whispers as the truck starts moving again. 

“Don’t jinx it,” Maya hisses back.

Axe pulls into the vehicle bay, and reverses the truck into a parking lot directly over the hatch for a maintenance and sewage tunnel. Benn slips out of the truck to look for an access terminal. 

“Alright, I’ll try to buy you guys some time,” Axe says, slipping out of the truck. In the distance, they hear him calling out to the troopers in the area, pulling them away from the truck, and distracting them.

“All you then,” Bo-Katan says to Ahsoka, who pulls out her lightsaber. She’s about to plunge the lightsaber into the bottom of the truck when Bo-Katan suddenly stops her. “Wait, just don’t let it hit the floor, it’ll be really loud -”

She falls silent when Ahsoka gives a withering glare, and raises her hands in surrender. Koska stifles a snigger with the back of her hand.

The lightsaber makes quick work of the truck floor, and with one hand holding the lightsaber, Ahsoka’s other hand effortlessly floats the metal gently onto the floor next to them. She casts Bo-Katan a pointed sideways glance, and Bo-Katan just smirks. “Nice magic hands, _jetii_.”

Ahsoka rolls her eyes, reaches down, and turns the hatch wheel slowly.

“Zura, stay here in case Axe and Benn need help. We’ll be in contact,” Bo-Katan whispers. Zura responds with a brisk nod.

Ahsoka opens the hatch with a hiss, leaps down lightly, and gives them a thumbs up. The others climb down behind her. Maya closes the hatch, then turns to the others. “These tunnels run throughout the entire complex. We need to head towards the south side, and then hopefully Benn will put on a show.”

The group moves swiftly down the tunnels. The tunnels are largely empty, with only a few troopers that they had to hide from. After a while, Ahsoka holds up a fist, and everyone stops behind her. She points to a ladder to their left, leading up another hatch. “The holding area is right above us.”

Maya jogs up to Bo-Katan. She adjusts the straps of her rucksack carrying the explosives. “I’ll head to the engine room with Koska and Din to lay the charges.”

“Good luck,” Bo-Katan says to her. Maya gives her a small smile and wink, before disappearing down the tunnels. With a sigh, Bo-Katan taps on her commlink. “Benn, you ready?”

“Ready when you are!” His excitement is clear in his voice at what he’s about to do. 

She chuckles. “Alright, let’s start a prison riot!”

Tristan is already up the ladder, gesturing everyone to remain silent, and listening carefully. Above them, surprised murmurings turn into yells, and klaxon alarms start blaring. Taking that as his cue, Tristan pushes the hatch open, and throws multiple smoke bombs up before clambering up and shooting at confused troopers and prisoners.

Ahsoka is next up, and her lightsabers make short work of the remaining troopers not already overwhelmed by the prisoners. Bo-Katan climbs up quickly behind her, her HUD helping her see through the smoke clear as day. 

The prisoners are milling around, shouting, attacking guards left, right, center. “I need the doors to the next sector open, Benn!” Bo-Katan screams into her commlink.

Almost immediately, the doors at the back of the holding area hiss open, and the prisoners pour through, rushing the troopers standing there in shock. The door shuts again when the last prisoner pushes through. 

“Find him! Find him!” Bo-Katan shouts, getting increasingly anxious with every second that passes, glancing into every cell she passes by, where prisoners are too afraid or unable to leave.

“Bo!” Tristan screams in warning. Bo-Katan turns around, but she’s too slow. 

A trooper has his blaster pointed at her at point-blank range. A blaster shot rings out, and he crumps to the floor with an orange hole in his chest. 

Behind him stands Korkie Kryze.

“Hi, Aunty Bo.”

Bo-Katan stares at him, slack-jawed. 

He’s older, more haggard, wearing an orange prison jumpsuit, but it’s undoubtedly him. She rushes towards him, sweeping him into a tight embrace. “You’re alive,” she chokes out.

“I knew you'd come!” He lets loose a watery laugh. "How did you even know I was here?"

"Long story, I'll explain later. Now we need to get to the warden's office for extraction." She taps her commlink. “Benn, get us out of here!”

A door to her left hisses open, and Benn is back in her ear again. “Take this door, follow it down to the end of the corridor, then take the stairs to your right.”

Bo-Katan turns to her people. “Alright, you heard the man, let’s go!”

They make their way towards their destination as Benn guides them, opening and locking doors, and thus far they’re doing a good job of keeping the troopers at bay. They reach the warden’s office, five troopers are standing guard outside, and they raise their blasters to open fire, but with one sweep from Ahsoka’s hand, the troopers are sent flying into the wall.

Ahsoka bursts through the door, cutting down the remaining troopers inside easily, and knocks the warden out by slamming the hilt of her lightsaber into his face. The others filter in and bar the door shut.

“Team 3, we are in position,” Bo-Katan reports into the commlink. 

“Copy that, we’re on our way!” Fenn replies.

“Team 2, what’s your status?” 

The lack of response causes a spike in Bo-Katan’s anxiety. She paces up and down the room, ignoring Korkie and Ahsoka’s concerned looks. “Maya, Koska, Din! What’s your status?”

With the continued radio silence, Bo-Katan is about to erupt into full-blown panic when her commlink finally crackles. She hears the exchange of blaster fire, of troopers shouting, and Maya cursing. “Bo! We’ve laid the charges and set them. Oh fuck me! Fighting our way out now!“ Maya’s voice sounds breathy. Bo-Katan can’t tell if she’s injured or just winded.

“Will you be able to make it to the rendezvous point on time?” Bo-Katan asks, really meaning _before the bombs go off_. 

“Kid we gotta go!” They hear Maya shout to Koska, before answering, “uh, yeah!” Bo-Katan and Ahsoka exchange a look of uncertainty.

They turn when they hear the roar of a familiar engine. Fenn has arrived. 

Ahsoka leaps onto the ledge and cuts through the glass windows easily with her lightsaber. She kicks down the window and watches as it crashes onto the milling troopers below. The roar of the _Gauntlet_ fills the air, and Fenn wrestles it to level with the window. 

Morko opens the door, providing cover fire. “Get in! Axe, Benn, and Zura are already here!” 

Bo-Katan turns away. “Maya, come in! Where are you!”

There’s no reply.

“Koska? Din!”

Radio silence on the channel.

“ _Harr’chak_!” Bo-Katan checks the time. Ten minutes before this place blows up. Ahsoka turns to her, waiting for her decision. She breathes a sigh of relief when she’s spared from her inner conflict, as Maya’s voice crackles over the comms.

“Bo! We’re trapped in the corridor, second floor.”

“Maya, this place is going to blow! Get to the south window on the second floor, we’ll meet you there with the ship!” Bo-Katan hears blaster fire whistling in the background before Maya responds with a strained “ _copy”._

Korkie sees a red light hovering on Bo-Katan's exposed neck, a small gap between her helmet and backplate as she speaks to Maya.

He doesn't think, he slams into Bo-Katan, shouldering her out of the way.

"KORKIE!”

She scrambles to her knees, turning wildly to fire at the troopers, but Morko gets there first, taking down the snipers from his perch on the Gauntlet.

Bo-Katan drops to Korkie’s side. Her heart plummets to the bottom of her stomach when she turns him gently around, and sees the hole in his chest.

* * *

Koska is in trouble.

She’s cornered by two hulking troopers that can’t and won’t go down. Din is unconscious after getting thrown into the wall by the bigger of the two troopers. They’ve gotten separated from Maya, who was drawn into an altercation with another group of troopers.

“ _Harr’chak_ , what are you?” Koska mutters to herself, cursing her misfortune to be dealing with mutated troopers twice the size of a normal man.

The smaller one lunges at her and she fires her blaster desperately at him but to no avail, he still ends up landing on her, slamming her into the ground. They wrestle on the ground, Koska trying to push the blaster underneath his chin, and he trying to keep her hand pinned to the ground.

He slams his helmet into hers, and takes advantage of her momentary daze to wrap his hands around her neck. She chokes, trying to draw breath, but he tightens his grip. Her vision is beginning to go black around the edges when a blaster shot rings out, warm wet liquid sprays across her face, and the trooper goes limp.

Gasping, she pushes the body off, and sees Maya standing over her. “We have less than ten minutes before this place blows up. I’ll deal with this one, get Din out of here.”

Koska pushes herself to her feet, and Maya moves to shield her protectively from the remaining hulking trooper, aiming a heavy blaster at him.

“Maya - ”

Maya turns her head slightly to give her a brief but hard look. “That’s an order.” Her voice is commanding, a tone she rarely uses with Koska.

Before Koska can answer, Maya is moving towards the trooper, drawing him away from Koska. The trooper continues to charge at her, despite the blaster shots thudding into his body. 

“What the _fuck?_ ” 

Maya barely has time to react before the trooper reaches her, smacks her blaster aside, and slams her straight into the wall.

She groans at the impact, and her head bounces against the wall, causing the HUD to frizz. Before she can recover, he punches her in the side. She bends over, winded, and he slams his knee into her helmet, causing her head to snap back viciously.

In her dizzy and winded state, she hears him laughing. The bastard is enjoying this. She pulls out the _kal_ at her belt, and lunges at him, scoring a clean strike across his torso as she slides past him on her knees.

He howls in pain, and she turns, sweeping his legs from under him and sending him crashing to the ground. She springs onto her feet, twirling the _kal_ in her hand. "Come on,” she goads him with a confidence that she doesn’t particularly feel.

He rushes her again, but this time she’s ready. She sidesteps swiftly and slashes at his thigh with the _kal_ as he rushes by her, splattering crimson specks over his white armour. To her dismay, it barely slows him down, and only serves to enrage him further. He circles her, and lunges again.

She drops to a crouch and catches him by the back of his knees, using his own weight and momentum to lift him up into the air and slam him down. She pins him down with her upper body, drives the kal into his exposed lower torso and twists the blade. He bellows in pain, but even as Maya tries to yank the blade free, he swings his arms wildly, and catches her on the head. Before she has the chance to recover, another fist lands on her head, causing the HUD to explode into static again. The trooper rears back and headbutts her violently. She reels back, head ringing, and the trooper bucks his hips, sending her flying over his head. Landing in a heap, she’s slow to get to her feet, and that proves to be her undoing.

He picks her up by the lip of her chestplate single-handedly, her feet brushing the floor, yanks her helmet off, and headbutts her again. She feels her nose break. In her dazed state, her body is unresponsive. There’s nothing she can do as the trooper flings her against the glass window, leaving spider cracks in the glass.

She slides down the window in a painful heap, body screaming in agony, vision blurring. The trooper stalks towards her. He rips his helmet off, revealing a heavily scarred face warped in a malicious grin. “I want you to see the face of the man who kills you, bitch.”

Her lungs feel constricted, she struggles to draw breath. She tries to kick out at his feet as he draws near, but he kicks aside her feeble attack, picks her up once again, and draws his fist back.

“No!”

Koska bursts into the room.

Hearing her shout, he turns around to face her, releasing his grip on Maya, who drops to the ground unceremoniously. His lips curl up in a sneer. “Back again, little birdy? Come on - ”

His head explodes.

Koska drops the heavy blaster and rushes to Maya’s side. “Maya!”

Maya’s face is battered. Blood is everywhere, trickling from the gashes on her temple, her split lip, her broken nose. Her left eye is already glued shut from the blood dripping from her temple and the swelling of the socket. 

Her good eye swivels to look at Koska, and she manages a breathy laugh that turns into a wheeze. “Told you not to come back. Where’s Din?”

“You _di'kut!_ ” Koska scolds her. “Din’s fine, I got him to the ship. We need to go, we’ve got three minutes before this place blows.” She slings Maya’s arm around her shoulders, carrying most of her weight, all but dragging her along. 

Reaching the rendezvous point, Tristan and Ahsoka help Maya onto the ship, the latter’s jaw drops when she sees Maya’s state. Axe pulls the door shut. “Fenn, let’s go!”

The ship pulls away from the prison, just as it explodes. Speeding ahead of the shockwaves and fumes, the ship jumps into hyperspace.

The ship is a bustle of activity, as Tristan immediately makes his way over to the back where Bo-Katan and Ahsoka are bent over Korkie’s prone body. 

Koska kneels next to Maya, who’s slumped against the wall, breathing heavily with an occasional wheeze. She’s pressing a rag against the gash on her temple with a trembling arm in an effort to stem the bleeding. After a few moments, with a pained groan, her arm drops to her side, unable to sustain the movement due to her screaming ribs.

Koska reaches for the rag. “ _Ori’vod_ , let me.” Maya sighs heavily and relinquishes the rag to Koska. Her finger gently brushes the bridge of Maya’s crooked nose and Maya flinches. The sudden movement triggers a wave of nausea, and deaf to Koska’s mumbled apologies, she bends over to fight it, but her yelp of agony at her protesting rubs turns into a cough and fit of wheezing. She feels Koska’s hand rubbing soothing circles on her back, and she leans into the touch gratefully. When the spell has passed, she raises her head to peer blearily at Koska.

"You definitely have a concussion, and broken ribs,” Koska mutters, eyeing her reproachfully. “What happened to not doing anything stupid?”

“Bah! Using my own words against me?” Maya rasps out hoarsely. “Don’t worry about me, see how you can help Korkie.”

“Tristan and Ahsoka are already with him, they’ll know what to do. You on the other hand...” she takes another rag and presses it to the cut on the back of Maya’s head, triggering a sharp intake of breath from Maya.

After a while, Koska can tell that Maya is losing her battle with consciousness. She shakes her gently. "Stay awake, you can’t drift off, not with a concussion."

Her worry grows with Maya’s disoriented slurring as she looks up at Koska, “What’ya say?”

Koska shifts to sit next to her, and gently eases her head to lay against her shoulder. “ _K'uur_ , just rest.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Korkie lives!
> 
> Mando'a translation:  
> K'oyacyi: good luck  
> Oya: cheers / let's hunt / stay alive  
> K'uur: hush


	11. Ret'urcye mhi

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The team faces the consequences of their failed mission in Megalox Beta, and some consequences are more dire and irreversible than others.

At the back of the ship, Bo-Katan kneels by Korkie’s side, hands pressed against the gaping wound in his chest. “Hey, Korkie, stay with me.”

He coughs, a horrible wet sound. Blood bubbles up from his mouth, trickling down the corner of his lips. Bo-Katan can feel him shuddering with every laboured breath. She presses harder, desperately trying to stem the flow of blood. “I just got you back, Korkie, I’m not letting you go.”

He smiles gently at her. “It’s okay,  _ ba’vodu _ . It’s enough that you came.”

“No, no, don’t talk like that, you’re going to be okay.”

“It’s okay,” he says again, voice growing more breathy. “Don’t worry about me. I’ll see Mom soon.”

Bo-Katan feels a lump in her throat. “Korkie…” He sighs, and his eyes start to drift shut. She shakes him gently. “Stay awake, Korkie, come on.”

He works hard to open his eyes again. “I’ve always wanted to meet my dad.” The corner of his lips quirk up in a small smile. “He’ll know when I see him.”

“You’re not done, Korkie! You’re a Kryze! We don’t give up!” Bo-Katan shakes her head fervently, keeping firm pressure on his wound.

Korkie’s hands grasp hers, and pull them gently away from the wound, tangling their fingers together. “Leave it. It is over, and it’s okay.”

Hot tears streak down her face.

“You came back, that’s enough,” he whispers.

Bo-Katan tightens her grip on his hands, and leans forward, as grief constricts her chest. “When you see Satine, will you tell her that I love her, very much, and that I’m sorry? For everything?” 

Korkie gives her a soft smile. “I will,” he breathes.

His fingers in her grip go slack.

Bo-Katan freezes. Her eyes search his face for any sign that she could be wrong. She presses her fingers to his neck. Nothing.

Behind her, Tristan stumbles to his feet and away from them, wiping tears from his eyes. The others don’t have to ask them to know what’s happened. 

Bo-Katan finds herself glued to the spot. She feels Ahsoka’s familiar presence behind her, but this time, it brings no comfort. She swallows thickly, and reaches out to close his eyes gently. “March on,  _ ner vod _ .  _ Ret’urcye mhi _ .”

The rest of the flight to Concordia is mostly silent, with the palpable feeling of defeat and grief hanging over the crew.

Fenn guides the ship slowly into the hangar bay, where rows and rows of Mandalorians are standing at attention. Fenn had called ahead and informed Ursa of what happened. There was a long silence on the other end, and he swears he could hear a choked noise on the other end. A part of him viciously thinks she deserves it, but another part also knows no one wins in the end.

Axe opens the cargo door, and two medics march up with a stretcher. He takes the stretcher from them and places it next to Korkie.

Bo-Katan remains kneeling next to Korkie’s body, staring at him blankly.

Fenn places a gentle hand on the crook of her elbow. She raises her gaze to his, and he’s struck by how broken she looks. 

“Come on,” he says softly, and Bo-Katan’s glistening eyes look down at the stretcher. She gives him a barely perceptible nod, and both of them gently lift Korkie onto the stretcher, picking it up, and slowly walking down the ramp.

Maya stands up with a pained grimace, presumably to follow, but a spell of dizziness hits her, and she sways dangerously, and would have fallen if Koska hadn’t caught her. 

The rows of soldiers split down the middle, silently forming a guard and saluting their fallen comrade as Bo-Katan and Fenn bear him down the bay.

Koska shoulders Maya’s weight as they follow behind Korkie’s body, casting a worried glance towards her as her breathing becomes increasingly laboured, her footsteps slower and heavier. 

“Maya?” Koska whispers.

Maya sways and staggers to the side, nearly dragging Koska to the floor with her. Ahsoka darts forward to help steady them, pulling Maya's other arm around her own shoulders. A medic rushes to their side with a med-unit.

“Don’t,” Maya slurs viciously. The medic looks to Koska, who gives him a curt shake of the head, knowing how stubborn Maya can be, and jerks her head towards the med-bay, an indication that he should just meet them there. He looks annoyed, but acquiesces.

Their progress towards the med-bay is slow and painful, and Maya is barely conscious by the time they get there. Koska lowers her gently onto the med-unit, and feels a tug at the top of her chestplate. Maya is staring at her with a glassy look. “Did we do it? Is Korkie okay?”

Koska wants to cry. Maya is so concussed that she's completely forgotten what happened. Maya’s brows deepen in confusion and her grip on Koska tightens. “ _ Ad'ika _ , what’s wrong?”

The doctor arrives to gently push Koska out of the way. “Give us room to work, we're going to prep her for the bacta tank.”

Koska’s distraught expression and her own disorientation only serves to agitate Maya further. She tries to sit up, swatting the doctor’s hands away. “No, what happened? Koska! Where’s Korkie? Where’s Bo?”

“ _ Udesii, _ ” the doctor tries to reassure her, then turns to the medic, muttering, “someone sedate her!” 

Maya whirls on him, looking furious. “I heard that. Don’t you kriffing dare! You  _ shabuir -  _ ” The medic jabs an IV into her arm, and after several feeble attempts at batting them away, her eyes roll back, and she flops onto the med unit. The medics wheel her away, and Koska tries to follow, but is held back firmly by the doctor.

Unable to follow, with nowhere to go, Koska paces up and down the waiting room. With every step her agitation and fear grows. Her breathing becomes shorter and shorter, and before long, she’s hyperventilating.

Strong arms wrap around her, and she finds herself tugged into a warm embrace. Her sob is muffled as she buries her head in the crook of Axe’s shoulder, as his hand rubs comforting circles at her back. The sobs eventually devolve into sniffles and hiccups, and when she finally calms down, she pulls away from the embrace, roughly wiping away her tears with the back of her hand. 

“I’m sorry, that was - “ she swallows, unable to finish her sentence, looking embarrassed. 

Axe smiles gently at her, one hand still resting on her elbow, and his thumb gently swipes an errant tear from her cheek. “ _ K’uur _ , don’t worry, all she needs is a swim in the bacta tank, okay? You saved her, saved Din. You did good," he whispers soothingly.

* * *

Bo-Katan dusts one last kiss on Korkie's cold brow and stands up unsteadily from her chair, stumbling out of the morgue. 

She lets her feet lead her, and finds herself back in her quarters, bottle of tihaar in one hand, and a photo of Satine and herself at her Resol'nare in her other.

She blinks furiously, trying to hold her welling tears at bay. Suddenly, the room feels stuffy, oppressive, and she struggles to draw breath. She needs to get out of here. Bottle in hand, she bursts out of her quarters.

She speeds up her pace. Her breath quickens, she feels her chest tightening, and her vision becomes glassy. Reaching the hangar bay, she climbs onto a speeder and guns the engine, shooting out of the base.. 

She hears someone shouting for her from behind, but she doesn’t care, can’t bring herself to care.

All she can feel is the wind whipping past her, and the heart-wrenching agony spreading in her chest. She doesn’t know where she’s going, or how far she’s gone.

Finally, her exhaustion wins out. She slams on the speeder’s brakes, and stumbles off it, toppling forward. Kneeling on the cold hard ground, something within her breaks. An inhumane howl of abject grief tears loose from her throat.

_ I’m so sorry Satine. I failed you. I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry. _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As much as I hated the idea that Korkie is canonically dead in The Mandalorian, I suppose I accepted the fact that Bo-Katan for the purposes of this story had to feel as alone as possible. And while she's the only Kryze left in the whole galaxy, I do want this story to explore the meaning of family, which as they say, is more than blood. Anyway, apologies for bringing back Korkie just to kill him off.
> 
> Comments always welcome!
> 
> Mando'a translation: 
> 
> Ret'urcye mhi: goodbye / maybe we'll meet again  
> Ba'vodu: aunt  
> Ad'ika: kid  
> Udesii: relax  
> Shabuir: jerk


	12. Pride and Joy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In the aftermath of Megalox Beta, Maya and Koska reflect on what happened and what could have been, and Ahsoka is forced to come to terms with her role amongst the Mandalorians, and in relation to Bo-Katan.

"Just take it easy, will you?" 

Koska is frustrated with her, and Maya knows she's being extremely difficult, but she can't lie in the bed anymore. "I reek of bacta," Maya grumbles. "You know I hate it."

She gets an eye roll in response. "If it weren't for the bacta you wouldn't be able to breathe right now, or see properly."

"I'd rather have that than this right now," she growls, flinging her arm with the IV onto the pillow petulantly. Her body is sore, her ribs are on the mend, but taking deep breaths is still painful, and her head still feels like it's ringing, residuals of her concussion.

"You don't mean that." Koska frowns, reminded of the fact that she'd almost lost her friend and mentor yesterday. She has no doubt that the trooper would have beaten Maya to death if she hadn’t intervened. “When I walked in, I really thought...“

She doesn’t finish her sentence. Maya knows what she means. “I was scared too,” she admits. “But don’t worry, you’re not going to lose me.”

“Came close today though, and it would have been my fault, I shouldn't have tried to take them on, and Din got hurt too," Koska responds mournfully.

“None of it was your fault.” She squeezes Koska’s hand. “Hey, look at me,” she commands softly.

Koska’s downcast gaze returns to her, and Maya gives her an affectionate, crooked smile, one she reserves for a rare few. “Doesn’t matter what happens, I’ll always look after you  _ ad’ika _ ,” she chuckles, a small rumble in her throat. “Even if you’re taller than me.”

A reluctant smirk crosses Koska’s face. “You know I’d kill anyone else who calls me that.”

“I know.” Maya looks at her fondly. "Now, how about helping me up, I need fresh air."

Koska's immediate reaction is to shake her head and insist that she stay in the med-bay to rest, but Maya isn't in the mood for it. She desperately needs fresh air, she can no longer stand the oppressive atmosphere of the med-bay. Maybe it’s a result of her latest brush with death, but she wants to feel the breeze on her face, see the stars, and Koska relents.

Her gait is shaky, dizzy from having laid down for so long, but Koska dutifully helps her into her favourite clearing outside the base, although she continuously grumbles about how the doctor is going to have her head for doing this. Maya laughs, and assures Koska that she would play interference for her. 

They reach the clearing, and Maya sits down heavily, winded from the walk. Koska crouches down and starts a fire. Maya closes her eyes. The breeze wafts over, lifting her hair as she breathes in the sweet night air, listening to the comforting crackle of fire, and the gentle tinkering sounds of metal in the distant hangar bay as mechanics work on the ships. 

After a long stretch of comfortable silence, Maya looks at Koska, the fond smile she gave Koska earlier in the med-bay returning. Feeling the weight of her gaze, Koska arches a quizzical eyebrow at Maya. "What?"

Maya chuckles and looks away. "Nothing."

"It's not nothing. What is it?"

"I'm proud of you, that’s all."

Whatever answer Koska was expecting, it wasn't that. She opens and closes her mouth, unsure of how to respond.

Maya smiles at her. "You don't need to say anything. That's just something I needed to get off my chest, in case I never get the chance to say it."

Koska stares at her. Everyone is shaken up by Korkie's death, but Maya had also come close to losing both Bo-Katan and herself. In her hazy memories of the early days of her recovery, she remembered Maya being a constant in the periphery of her vision, dozing in the armchair by her side, working off a datapad, hushed whispering with visitors, threatening the doctors, she was always there. Seeing the trooper ready to deal the killing blow, she now understands Maya's heightened protectiveness of her since her injury.

"I was raised by the best,  _ jatnese be te jatnese,”  _ she replies very quietly.

For a while, Maya studies her silently. Her affectionate expression morphs into something more wistful. 

"Koska, I wish I could have shown you the splendour of Mandalore, before it was ravaged by this war and the previous one. Not the domed cities we had to live in. I would have shown you the beauty of Kalevala, the tall trees, green mountains, bluest lakes you’d ever seen. The streets of the cities, full of people,  _ our _ people." 

Maya’s voice is heavy under the weight of her melancholy. “You would have lived a good life. If you wanted, you would have made a fine Protector, serving the Duchess, or our Mand'alor," she chokes up for a moment, growing increasingly upset. "Not - not like we are now, homeless, divided, powerless. You young ones deserve better than that, you shouldn’t have to suffer the consequences of our failures."

Koska can see that Maya is working herself into an agitated state. She scoots over, grasping Maya's hand and squeezing tightly. "No  _ ori'vod _ ," she says fiercely, "I'm happy serving you and the Mand'alor here, or anywhere else in the galaxy. We'll rebuild Mandalore, to something even better than what you remember."

Maya looks at her, dangerously close to tears. “ _ Vor entye. _ " 

Koska gives her a warm smile, and drops her head against Maya's shoulder.

They remain in this comfortable position for a while, when Maya’s head cocks to the side, listening to something. Koska’s hand twitches towards her blaster, but Maya presses a finger to her lips and gives her a wink, whispering loudly, "shh, a  _ jetii _ is approaching. I can hear her stomping around like a bantha."

Ahsoka's amused voice floats over with the breeze. "Oh please, if I really wanted to sneak up on you, I could. I just didn’t want to scare you."

Maya turns around, looking haughtily at Ahsoka. "I don't scare easily, what are you talking about?"

"So you weren't the one who screamed like a child when a spider landed on your head?"

Maya looks insulted, and Koska cackles. "Excuse me, it was trying to climb into my helmet! Probably about to poison me."

"It's a non-lethal species -"

"But still would have caused damage to my face!"

“Ah. Yes, your face,” Ahsoka says while trying to keep her a straight expression.

“You don’t think my face is pretty anymore?” Maya asks in mock-offence.

"Was your face ever pretty?" Koska asks, and yelps when Maya shoves her easily onto her side in retaliation.

Ahsoka sits down next to them, rummaging around in her satchel, and hums in satisfaction when she finds what she’s looking for. “Want some?” 

Maya turns to see Ahsoka offering her a small flask. She raises an eyebrow at Ahsoka, who smiles serenely. She unscrews the cap, takes a sniff, and reels back in pleasant surprise.

“Ahsoka Tano!” she exclaims in mild chastisement. Ahsoka chuckles, and Maya takes a large gulp of the tihaar. She closes her eyes, and relishes the burn of the alcohol down her throat.  “To Korkie,” she says quietly, taking another swig. She hands the flask to Koska, who echoes her and takes a drink. Ahsoka does the same.

The three remain in silence for a while, lost in their own thoughts. 

Koska’s gaze flits between the two of them, and she shifts on the ground. “I should get going, leave you two to talk.”

“Don’t leave on my account, Koska,” Ahsoka says kindly.

The younger woman shrugs. “I need to get some sleep. Just make sure this one gets back to her quarters in one piece?”

Maya glowers at her, and Ahsoka chuckles, giving her a thumbs up. Koska gives Maya’s knee one last comforting squeeze before she stands up. Ahsoka observes how Maya’s gaze follows Koska as she disappears amongst the tall grass.

“She’s a good kid.”

A small, fond smile breaks across the Protector’s face at Ahsoka’s comment. She huffs a small laugh. “My pride and joy,” she murmurs, so softly that Ahsoka thought she was talking to herself.

Ahsoka grins and leans back on her hands, looking Maya over critically. “You look much better, my friend. But do you  _ feel _ better?”

Maya would never admit it, but the bacta tank has done wonders for her battered body. Her ribs are on the mend, she can breathe freely again, without feeling like a million knives are stabbing her lungs. “Feeling better, but could be better,” she says honestly.

“I’m glad you’re alright,” Ahsoka murmurs distantly. “It went badly, and it could have gone worse.” 

Maya sighs, and takes another swig of tihaar _. _ “Din okay?”

“He’s got a concussion, but generally alright. I left Grogu with him, hopefully that’ll bring him some comfort.” 

A small smile flashes briefly on Maya’s face at the thought. “Yeah the kid would definitely help, if he isn’t giving Din a bigger headache with his antics.” But just as quickly, she sobers up. “What about Bo?”

Ahsoka’s shoulders slump slightly. “She locked herself in the morgue with him the moment they got back, she only just left the base an hour ago.”

Maya looks sharply at her, wincing when the movement causes a slight spell of nausea. “What? No one told me,” she scowls.

Ahsoka looks at her skeptically. “An hour ago you were supposed to be sleeping this off.” 

“Do we know where she went?”

Ahsoka jerks her head towards the mountain. “I’m guessing up there. That ranks among her usual spots to get away.”

“Could you - reach out to her, with the Force?” Maya asks hesitantly, unsure of how exactly it works. In a less serious circumstance, Ahsoka would have teased her for it.

“No. She’s hardened herself, I can’t get through,” Ahsoka answers with a sigh, and Maya’s face falls in disappointment. 

“She needs you, Ahsoka.”

Ahsoka shifts uncomfortably under the weight of Maya’s gaze. She’s always felt that the woman had the power to see right through her, and she’s demonstrating that once again. 

“She trusts you, more than anyone in this world.” 

Ahsoka’s gaze snaps to hers. She opens her mouth to argue, but clams up when the full weight of what Maya said sinks in. 

Maya must sense what she’s thinking because she offers Ahsoka a crooked smile. “And I don’t begrudge you for it. You’ve proven your quality, the very highest. You’ve saved us more times than we can count, and more importantly, you make her happy.”

Ahsoka feels tears prickling at the back of her eyes. 

“I only ask that you help her bear her burden, in ways that we can’t. You’re not Mandalorian, you don’t serve her, which means there are a lot of things she can’t tell us, but she’ll tell you. The weight on her shoulders grows heavier with every year, hell, every day that passes. I’m afraid that the despair in her heart will win out.” 

She looks away for a brief moment, a heavy grief in her voice. “Ahsoka, our people are scattered, divided, our numbers are dwindling. Every day that passes, it gets harder to take back our home. People are starting to forget what we’re fighting for, what Mandalore was like before all this. Did you know Koska has never seen Mandalore in a time of peace? Not before Maul, the Saxons, the Empire. How do you convince people to fight for something that they can’t remember or don’t know?”

Ahsoka takes the flask from Maya’s loose grip, and takes another gulp. “I understand how you feel Maya, more than you know. The Jedi are all but gone. The Order no longer exists. People are forgetting what the Jedi are, that we even existed.”

Maya looks mortified. “Ahsoka, I’m sorry, I didn’t - “

Ahsoka lays a gentle hand on her knee “There’s nothing to be sorry for. Like I said, I understand, some parts of it at least. It’s hard, when you feel like you’re among the last of your kind, out in a world that doesn’t remember you, where you seem to no longer belong.”

Maya hums, a sad noise at the back of her throat.

“I should go find her,” Ahsoka says suddenly, “you’re right.” 

Maya shoots her with a nonplussed look. “That was a quick u-turn.”

“No, you’re right. I should help her bear her burden, not let her do it alone,” Ahsoka says with a sigh. She stands up and offers Maya a hand.

Maya looks up at her, remaining seated, flask of tihaar in hand. “I can make my way back.”

Ahsoka scoffs. “No you’re not. Koska and the doctors will put  _ me _ in the bacta tank if I leave you alone instead of escorting you back.” 

Maya grumbles good-naturedly, but accepts Ahsoka’s help. 

Standing outside her door, Ahsoka claps a reassuring hand on Maya’s shoulder. “Don’t worry. I’ll find her. I think I know where she went.” Maya nods and snags the flask from Ahsoka’s hand, closing the door with a wink before Ahsoka can protest. 

Ahsoka sighs. Damn Mandalorians.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The Ahsoka/Bo-Katan slow-burn continues, and I apologize for that. I do hope y'all would find the pay-off rewarding when it does happen.
> 
> Mando'a:  
> Jatnese be te jatnese: best of the best  
> Ori'vod: big sister  
> Vor entye: thank you


	13. Sundari Burns

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ahsoka goes in search for Bo-Katan after she disappears from the base, and remembers another of her darkest days.

_ 9 ABY _

Ahsoka drives her speeder towards the mountain, thoughts plagued with memories from the night Mandalore fell, cruelly wrenched out of Bo’s grasp.

* * *

_ 1 ABY _

Rex and Ahsoka were in their Y-Wing, speeding towards Yavin from Dathomir when they received the distress signal on their comms channel shared with Bo-Katan.

The two exchanged a look, and Ahsoka fought the rising concern in her chest when she switched on her hologram. To her surprise, it wasn’t Bo-Katan who appeared, but Ursa Wren.

She’d taken off her helmet, her face was covered in soot, looking exhausted. “Ahsoka, I’m glad you answered.” 

“Ursa, what happened?”

The Countess’ face was filled with dismay and grief. “Ahsoka, the Empire attacked Mandalore. We’ve lost Sundari.”

Ahsoka’s mouth fell open, Rex was equally shocked. “What, how?”

“I don’t know how they broke through our shields, all our defences, but they came in the night, blasted a hole in the city dome. The city is overrun.” Ursa sounded pained.

A sinking feeling settled in Ahsoka’s stomach. “Where’s Bo-Katan?”

Ursa’s face twisted in sorrow. “I don’t know. She was still in the city when we left, she was trying to buy us time to get out.”

“How long has it been?” Rex asked.

“We left Sundari an hour ago, we’re on our way to Concordia now.”

“No! Concordia is too close. Go to Hoth, if anyone stops you, tell them I sent you. Rex, we can get to Sundari in four hours. We can get her out.”

“Ahsoka, even if you get in, there’s no way out, it’s surrounded by Imps. It’s suicide.”

“I have to try,” Ahsoka insisted.

“She wouldn’t want you to do this,” Ursa’s voice cracked.

Ahsoka blinked, her throat tightening. “She’d do the same for me.”

“Ahsoka - “

“I’ll be with her, she won’t be alone,” Rex interrupted, and Ahsoka looked at him gratefully. He turned back to Ursa. “Bo-Katan gave us shelter after Order 66, we owe her.”

“Even if you go, we’ve lost all contact with her, we don’t know where she is, if - “ she choked up, the unspoken sentiment hanging over them like a dark cloud. 

Ahsoka shook her head, not letting herself believe that the fiery Mandalorian leader was dead. “I believe she’s still alive. We’ll find her, one way or another.”

Ursa pauses for a while, then nods briskly.  _ “K’oyacyi.” _ The hologram flickers off.

It was only when the ship broke into Mandalore’s atmosphere, and Ahsoka saw the hole in Sundari’s wall, the Imperial ships surrounding the city that she started to question her own sanity in believing that firstly, she could find Bo-Katan in this sprawling city, secondly, that she was even alive. They hid the ship in the less damaged lower levels of the city, a spot that Rex had come across during the Siege years ago.

“Where do you want to start, Commander?” Rex asked, as he looked out from across the rampart down at the city on fire below them.

Ahsoka pulled out an image of the map that Ursa had shared with them. “Ursa said Bo was headed towards this area.” She pointed at the red location. “But it stands to chance that by now they would be running low on ammunition…”

“...the armoury,” both of them said at the same time. Rex chuckled.

They were making their way stealthily towards the armoury when they heard a massive explosion towards their left. They looked up to see TIE fighters shooting across the city. Ahsoka pulled Rex behind a corner as troopers rushed past them shouting about rebels blowing up the city’s central power system.

“Could be Bo-Katan’s work,” Rex whispered.

“Well, she is good at blowing things up,” Ahsoka said wryly. “Let’s go.”

Navigating their way through the streets and out of the sight of troopers, Ahsoka held a fist up, and Rex skidded to a halt behind her. “What do you see?” 

She held up four fingers. Four troopers. Rex nodded.

Ahsoka burst out from around the corner, and cleaved through two troopers easily. Rex dispatched the other two quickly with his blaster.  A Mandalorian came running around the corner, blaster up. Ahsoka recognized the insignia and the colours of her armour immediately. “Maya?” 

Maya skidded to a halt, shock evident through her body language. “Ahsoka? Rex? What a welcome surprise!” She turned around. “Someone get Bo!”

Slowly, the Mandalorians started filtering out from their hiding positions, Ahsoka recognized a few of them, Koska Reeves, Benn Rook, Alrich Eldar. There was also a group of terrified civilians with them.  When Bo-Katan stepped into view, Ahsoka nearly choked with relief. Bo-Katan stopped right in her tracks when she saw Ahsoka, and yanked her helmet off immediately. “Ahsoka?”

“It’s good to see you too, my friend.” Ahsoka grinned widely at her, despite the situation they found themselves in. Ahsoka frowned when she saw the blood running down Bo-Katan’s face from a deep gash on her temple. But she didn’t have time to say anything about it, because emotions are running high, and Bo-Katan did the unexpected.

She lunged forward, wrapping Ahsoka in a bear hug. After a short moment, she pulled back slightly, her hands still holding Ahsoka. “You didn’t have to come,” she said, the raw emotion bleeding through her voice.

“Well, you needed some rescuing - “

“Contact!” 

They were interrupted by Koska shouting, as blaster fire erupted around them. 

“They found us!” Maya shouted.

“I can see that!” Bo-Katan jammed her helmet back on, aiming her blaster at the troopers. “I suppose you’ve got an exit plan?” she shouted at Ahsoka.

“We hid our ship under the cover of the old city, it’s not too far from here.”

“But that’s in the fourth circle!” Maya groaned.

“Then we need to move, quickly.” Bo-Katan gestured at her Nite Owls to shelter the civilians away.

They found themselves hiding in a partially destroyed apartment building, waiting for the marching troopers to pass them by. Moving through the city was easier than they expected. Bo-Katan supposed that the Imperial forces assumed any sane person would make towards the hangar bays at the first circle, not go deeper into the outer levels.

For her part, something nagged Ahsoka at the back of her mind. Given Ursa’s comment about Bo-Katan fighting to buy time for others to get away, it seemed Bo-Katan was far too agreeable in accompanying them to the ship. Maya had pulled her aside earlier during a lull to express relief that she was here and that Bo-Katan was perhaps seeing sense in leaving too, but now that Ahsoka observed Bo-Katan, she wasn’t so sure about that.

She reached out through the Force tentatively, shuddering when she felt the deep undercurrents of grief and despair swirling beneath her facade of calmness.

She opened her eyes again, and started a little when she saw Bo-Katan’s face hovering near hers, a small smirk playing on her lips. “Not day-dreaming again, are you?” she whispered.

Despite her misgivings, Ahsoka countered defensively, “we’ll see how much day-dreaming I’m doing when I end up beating you to that ship.”

Bo-Katan bumped her shoulder playfully, chucking. “That would be cheating, because I don’t even know where your ship is.”

Ahsoka rolled her eyes, and Bo-Katan playfulness was replaced with something more pensive, and her eyes met Ahsoka’s. “Thank you for being a great friend to Mandalore, Ahsoka.”

Ahsoka’s head tilted to the side, a little surprised at Bo-Katan’s words, but she leaned forward, grasping her hand lightly. “Bo, you can always count on me.”

Bo-Katan gave her a watery smile and squeezed Ahsoka’s hand tightly, before moving on to speak with the others. 

A while later, Maya scooted across the room, keeping low underneath the windows. “Ahsoka,” she whispered. Ahsoka raised her eyebrows quizzically, as Maya looked around furtively. “Do you get the feeling Bo’s about to do something stupid?”

Ahsoka’s heart sank, it’s not just her then. “I do,” she replied, and Maya cursed softly. “She seems resigned to dying on this planet, or with it.”

“So I’m not imagining things. She’s talking to people like she’s never going to see them again.” Maya sounded afraid. “She can’t do that, she needs to survive. We need her.”

“I know. And I intend to make sure she gets out of here.”

“You and me both,” Maya muttered darkly.

After another thirty minutes, the last of the trooper patrols passed them, and Koska gave them the signal to move on. They finally made it to the fourth circle, and Bo-Katan allowed herself a sigh of relief. Her people should be able to make it off this damned rock. But just as quickly, she heard someone shout. 

“There they are! Get them!”

They’ve been spotted.

Bo-Katan waved the rest on. “Go! Get to the bridge! It’s a narrow one - we can defend that.”

Maya, Koska, and Bo-Katan held the line in front of the bridge, allowing the civilians to escape across, as Rex and Benn provided cover fire from the other side. Ahsoka’s lightsabers twirled through the air, deflecting the blasts away from the Mandalorians.

Bo-Katan risked a glance behind her to check on their progress. 

To her dismay, she watched as a blaster shot caught Alrich in his exposed neck, just below his helmet. With a gurgling scream, he fell off the bridge. 

“No!” Bo-Katan lunged towards him, ready to activate her jetpack and leap down to catch him, but she stumbled when a shot dinged off her right pauldron. She raised the blaster in her left hand to shoot the offending trooper.

The delay was costly. She dashed to the bridge and looked down at Alrich's broken body lying still on the street below. Maya reached for her, but she slapped her hand away. “You and Koska, get the civilians to safety now,” she snapped harshly.

“But Alrich - “

“He's gone. Help the living."

“Bo - “

“Do as I say!” Bo-Katan pushed her forcefully back towards the bridge. “Your duty is to them now.” She watched the conflict play out across Maya’s face. “I’ll see you on the other side,” she said with an air of finality, before she turned back to the troopers.

“Fuck! Fuck!” Maya cursed loudly, even as turned away from Bo-Katan, and tugged Koska across the bridge.

“You too Ahsoka -  _ harr’chak!” _

Ahsoka had darted in front of Bo-Katan, continuing to deflect the shots. “You’re crazy if you think I’m leaving you here to die,” she called over her shoulder.

“I’m not going to let the Empire have you, the last Jedi, on a silver platter!” Bo-Katan growled. She heard something clattering towards them. She looked down to see a blinking grenade. Quick as a flash, she picked it up and hurled it back at the onrushing troopers.

“Get down!” she shouted, pulling Ahsoka down and covering her with her own body. The explosion rang out, followed by the screams of the troopers. Ahsoka looked out from under Bo-Katan’s body draped over hers. The fire was holding the troopers back for now. 

Bo-Katan rolled off her and clambered to her feet. But Ahsoka seized her by the lip of her chestplate, dragging her down and behind an overturned speeder. “I’m not leaving you behind!” she shouted into Bo-Katan’s face, feeling a surprising amount of anger and desperation, at making her see sense. “You may have a death wish, but don’t you forget your duty to your people, you swore to protect them!”

Bo-Katan went rigid, and there was cold fury in her voice. “I am the Mand’alor, that’s exactly I’m doing!”

“By getting yourself killed?” Ahsoka hated how shrill her voice sounded. “What use is a dead Mand’alor!”

“And what use is a dead Jedi!” Bo-Katan snapped right back.

Ahsoka could feel the anger rolling off Bo-Katan in waves, and for a moment she thought Bo-Katan was going to hit her.

A moment of tense silence lapsed between them, and the surrounding chaos - sounds of blaster fire, explosions, and screams faded into a dull roar in Ahsoka’s ears. Suddenly, all she could hear was the heavy, ragged breathing of Bo-Katan through the modulator of her helmet.

Throwing caution to the wind, she reached for Bo-Katan’s helmet and removed it. 

Bo-Katan’s hair was a mess, plastered to her face by sweat and blood. She looked exhausted, resigned. “Please, Ahsoka, go, get my people somewhere safe.”

Ahsoka shook her head stubbornly, and pulled Bo-Katan closer. “You look me in the eyes, and tell me that you want to die here, that you’ve given up, and you want this to be the end.”

Bo-Katan’s doesn’t say anything. Her eyes flickered up to Ahsoka’s, and unable to hold it, averted her gaze again, to where her hands gripped her blasters tightly. 

Ahsoka shook her again gently. “Because if that’s what you want, then we’ll make such an end, and we’ll die here together.”

Bo-Katan’s resigned expression turned immediately into one of shock and horror as she shook her head in a violent rejection of that idea. “What! No!”

Ahsoka was aware of time ticking down, she could hear Rex and others screaming at them to move. But she needed Bo-Katan to come down willingly from the ledge. She cupped Bo-Katan’s cheeks. “Bo, I will help you retake Mandalore, I swear it, but you need to come with me now.” 

An explosion rocks them, and that seems to snap Bo-Katan out of it. Clarity returned to her previously dulled eyes, and strength returned to her tired voice. She raised her head to look Ahsoka in the eyes. “I’ll come with you.”

Ahsoka gave her a small smile, placed the helmet back on Bo-Katan’s head, giving it a gentle knock, and pulled out her lightsabers. “Let’s go then.”

* * *

_ 9 ABY _

Ahsoka blinks out of her memories, and focuses on following Bo-Katan’s energy through the Force. Worry and fear gnaws at her as she nears Bo-Katan, who seems to be overwhelmed and enveloped by her own grief and devastation. 

“Hold on, my friend, I’m coming,” Ahsoka whispers to herself.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is part 3 of the flashback "episodes" of how I envisioned the Purge to have been, all out of sequence. 
> 
> After watching the final episode of The Clone Wars, I really liked the idea of Rex sticking by Ahsoka's side in the years that pass (it honestly confused me that they hadn't seen each other in a while during Rebels).


	14. Teetering

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ahsoka goes head-to-head with a version of Bo-Katan that she's never met before, one that is broken and has hit her absolute rock-bottom.

Bo-Katan doesn’t know how long she’s been out here, but despite the impending darkness and chill, she can’t bring herself to care. She stares out at the sky blankly, thoughts running through her head, wondering what she could have done to save him, why she didn’t try harder to look for him all those years. 

She reaches for the bottle of tihaar and takes another gulp. She’s drunk, she knows it. Her mind is hazy, her senses are becoming dulled. She raises the bottle to take another swig, but it’s empty. She staggers to her feet with a string of profanity. She doesn’t know what possesses her to do it, but she finds herself standing at the edge of the mountain.

In a fit of drunken anger, she flings the bottle down the mountain, and watches it disappear through the fog.

She bends over, suddenly unable to breathe. She shakes her head, desperately trying to clear her mind. But all she can do is stare down the ledge. 

All she can think about are all the times she’s failed her people, failed her sister. The tears come unbidden at the memory of her sister. All Satine had done in their childhood was to love her, dote on her as an older sister would, and she repaid that with blood and death.

Her foot moves one step closer to the edge.

Wouldn’t it be better if she was gone? Then her followers wouldn’t need to follow her needlessly into a war that never ends, that can’t be won. She’d be reunited with her family then, she’d be able to have the closure she never had with Satine. 

She closes her eyes and takes one more step.

But to her shock, instead of falling forwards, she feels someone’s arms wrap tightly around her torso and haul her backwards. She falls to the ground, and she hears a grunt from the person that cushioned her fall.

She tries to sit up, and the other person rolls them over.

Ahsoka is pinning her to the ground.

“Force’s sake, what are you doing!” Ahsoka yells at her, petrified at what she had just stopped, what had almost happened.

Bo-Katan stares at her, panting, dazed.

“Bo, are you even listening to me?” Ahsoka shakes her gently when she remains non-responsive, nearly in tears.

A strangled noise escapes Bo-Katan’s lips, and the dam finally breaks. 

“Oh, Bo.” Ahsoka immediately climbs off Bo-Katan and pulls the despondent woman into a tight embrace. “I’m here, right here.”

As Bo-Katan cries into her shoulder, Ahsoka can’t help the tears flowing down her cheeks too. She knew Bo-Katan was suffering, weighed down by the burden of leadership and failure to save her planet from the Empire’s destruction, but she never envisioned that it would be this bad. She now realizes the wisdom and urgency of Maya’s words. 

It’s all bravado, an unflappable mask that she puts on in front of her people, but inside she was a hair’s breadth from breaking. Judging from the alcohol reeking off her and what she nearly just witnessed, this is Bo-Katan hitting rock-bottom.

The sobs eventually subside, and Bo-Katan slumps against her, physically and mentally drained. Ahsoka throws her cloak over Bo-Katan’s shoulders when she feels her shivering in the cold, and reaches up to frame Bo-Katan’s cold cheeks in her warm palms. “Bo.”

In a moment of tired vulnerability, Bo-Katan can’t hide her true feelings anymore. “This pain won’t go away,” she whispers brokenly, desperately searching Ahsoka’s face for an answer, but Ahsoka herself hasn’t fully dealt with her grief of losing the Jedi Order either. “My people, they must think I’m weak,” she spits out, self hate and a deep hurt bubbling to the surface. “I trusted Ursa, why does she feel she can’t trust  _ me _ ?” 

“Because she was afraid, and people do irrational things when they’re afraid,” Ahsoka tells her gently.

Bo-Katan’s gaze drops down to the ground. “Maybe she was right to be afraid. Death and destruction follow me everywhere,” she murmurs darkly.

“Bo…” Ahsoka’s voice is imploring.

“I couldn’t protect my family, I couldn’t protect my home. Maybe my people do need a new leader, a  _ better _ leader.”

“And your solution to that is to throw yourself off a mountain?” 

Bo-Katan looks up at the harsh tone of Ahsoka’s voice, the softness gone, laced with a deep-seated fear of losing her. Bo-Katan looks away, ashamed of herself for putting Ahsoka in an impossible position once again. Feeling the intensity of Bo-Katan’s regret and shame, Ahsoka's fingers brush her cheek, gently pulling Bo-Katan back to her. 

“Bo, you are the best leader for your people. No one else, do you hear me?”

Bo-Katan sighs, and her eyes dart down again. Ahsoka’s finger lifts her chin gently. “Do you hear me?”

“How can you say that?” she asks, her voice small and unsure.

“Because you always do the right thing, even if it’s not the smart thing.” She chuffs Bo-Katan gently on the chin with a small smile. “And on the streets of Sundari I promised to help you take back Mandalore. I will see it through.”

Bo-Katan gazes at her, wondering how she ever deserved Ahsoka in her life. There are so many things she wants to say, but she just can’t. Ahsoka watches her like a hawk, and Bo-Katan wonders if Ahsoka can feel her emotions running rampant right now.

Ahsoka leans forward, resting her forehead against Bo’s. “You don’t have to fight or bear this burden alone, Bo. I’m with you on this, always,” she whispers.

Bo lets herself lean into Ahsoka, squeezing her eyes shut to stop the tears from falling again. They remain like that for a while, when Ahsoka pulls back slightly, though her thumbs gently rub circles on Bo-Katan’s cheeks, getting some warmth back into her ruddy cheeks.

“ _ Vor entye, _ Ahsoka,” Bo-Katan croaks out, trying to convey every ounce of gratitude she had into those words.

Ahsoka leans forward again, pressing a chaste kiss to Bo-Katan’s forehead near her hairline. “Your debts are paid, Bo-Katan.”  She stands up then, holding her hand out. “We should get back, everyone’s worried about you.”

A part of her wants to stay here in this bubble with Ahsoka, away from everyone else and all her troubles, but she knows she can’t stay. She takes the proffered hand, and allows herself to be pulled up to her feet. Her cheeks burn when she realizes her proximity to Ahsoka, her warm breaths puffing over her nose.

Ahsoka smirks.

In a bid to hide her flushed cheeks, Bo-Katan breaks away, stumbling towards her speeder. Ahsoka catches her arm before she goes too far. “You’re not driving, I’m driving. And for Force’s sake, don’t let go. Maya is worried enough about you as it is, without you falling off a bike.”

“She’s always worried about me,” Bo-Katan mumbles with equal amounts of petulance and fondness, but she tightens her grip around Ahsoka’s waist as she guns the engine and speeds down the mountain.

Ahsoka doesn’t know how she did it, but she managed to get back to the base safely without Bo-Katan careening off the bike. The cool breeze seems to have sobered her up, and she can at least stand straight when she climbs off.

She helps Bo-Katan out of her armour when they reach her room, or rather helps catch the pieces of armour that Bo-Katan starts stripping off and haphazardly dropping on the floor. Rolling her eyes, Ahsoka picks up the pieces and places them neatly on the table. When she turns around, Bo-Katan is already sprawled on her bed, still wearing her jumpsuit.

With an affectionate yet exasperated sigh, Ahsoka pulls the blanket out of the edges to tuck around her body. Bo-Katan’s hand shoots out to grab her wrist. “Stay?”  Ahsoka stares at her. Bo-Katan turns her head to look at her. “I don’t want to be alone tonight,” she mumbles.

Ahsoka feels her heart break, and she leans forward, her lips brushing over Bo-Katan’s forehead. “I’ll be right here.” 

Bo-Katan rolls over to make space for her, and Ahsoka sits down on the bed, removing her boots and belt, placing her lightsabers carefully on the table. She lies down behind Bo-Katan and drapes an arm around her waist, holding her close. She feels Bo-Katan’s body relax, and eventually, her breathing evens out as she dozes off.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So that was dark. In my mind writing this, I doubt Bo-Katan would have truly tried fling herself off the mountain, but she was drunk, and rational thoughts certainly go out the window with that.
> 
> I'm a big fan of Battlestar Galactica, and I particularly liked what President Roslin said to Lee Adama, that he had the tendency to do the right thing, even if it wasn't the smart thing. It felt incredibly relevant and accurate for Bo-Katan, frankly, what with some poor political moves or just plain impulsive moves.


	15. Where the Sun Sails and the Moon Walks

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ahsoka and Bo-Katan's feelings for each other finally come to a head, and Bo-Katan lets slip a revelation before the last goodbye to her nephew.

Bo-Katan jolts awake, and immediately regrets opening her eyes, as the full force of her hangover hits her. She groans and buries her face deeper into the pillow, trying to ignore the pounding in her head. It’s only then that she realizes that there’s a warm, comfortable presence behind her.

She doesn’t need to look over to know who it is. She closes her eyes, trying to remember how she got back to the room, and why Ahsoka was in the bed next to her, not that she was complaining. 

“You’re awake.” She feels the tickle of Ahsoka’s breath on the back of her neck. She turns her head. Ahsoka’s head is propped up underneath her hand, she’s clearly been awake for a while. “How’s your head?” 

Bo-Katan reluctantly rolls off the bed to pour herself a glass of water from the table. She gulps it down, pours herself another glass, and glugs that down too. “Bad. Feels like my head’s about to explode,” she croaks.

“Well, you did finish an entire bottle of tihaar by yourself.” Ahsoka shimmies up the bed, reclines against the headboard, clasping her hands behind her head with a smug look.

“Don’t remind me,” Bo-Katan groans as she trudges towards the fresher, Ahoka’s light laughter ringing behind her.

When she comes out, freshly showered, Ahsoka has already turned her attention to her datapad to scroll through the morning’s messages. Bo-Katan watches her as she works, sitting in her bed like she belongs there, as though she’s always been there. Her cheeks flush, it’s not like she hasn’t fantasized about it for years. She’s jolted out of her daydream however, when Ahsoka looks up and smirks at her.

“You’re staring.”

“I like the view,” she replies immediately, earnestly, as she sits at the foot of the bed.

Ahsoka laughs again. “Always the charmer, aren’t you.”

“Only with you,” she says, wishing fervently that Ahsoka would believe her, to know that she’s not joking.

Ahsoka’s teasing smile softens. “I know.”

Bo-Katan hums, pleased, and she looks up again at Ahsoka when she feels a gentle tug on her hand. Ahsoka has shifted from her reclining position against the headboard to a cross-legged position. Her mirth has faded away, leaving behind a serious expression. “Promise me you won’t do anything that stupid again.”

Bo-Katan sighs, feeling like a fool for worrying her like that. “I promise.”

Ahsoka’s eyes search her face intently. “Tell me if I’m wrong,” she murmurs before leaning in, and Bo-Katan feels soft lips descend on hers. Before she can comprehend what’s happening, Ahsoka has pulled away, a self-satisfied smirk playing on her lips at the dazed look on Bo-Katan’s face. 

It takes a moment for Bo-Katan to overcome her initial surprise, but then a familiar confidence returns to her, and she reaches out to grasp Ahsoka gently by the hips, pulling her in again. After a while, both of them surface for air, and Ahsoka reaches up to tuck a wayward strand of hair behind Bo-Katan’s ear. 

“I’ve wanted to do that for a long time,” Ahsoka admits.

Bo-Katan laughs, feeling like a burden has been lifted off her chest. “Me too.”

“I wish we did that sooner, it’s been too long.” Ahsoka shakes her head wistfully, and she moves back towards the headboard, pulling Bo-Katan towards her. With Bo-Katan’s back pressed against her front, she wraps her arms over Bo-Katan’s stomach.

“You have to let people in, you can’t keep this all bottled inside.” She nudges Bo-Katan’s head gently with her cheek.

“I know, I know.” Bo-Katan tangles their fingers together.

“Maya especially. If she wasn’t busy being my babysitter, she’d have more time to help you. “

“She’s not your babysitter.”

“I can take care of myself, you know,” Ahsoka says wryly.

“I know you can take care of yourself. I just thought, y’know…” Bo-Katan trails off with a sigh.

“Tell me,” Ahsoka insists.

Another sigh. 

“I just thought, there are so few Jedi left, that you’d want someone to back you up if you were ever in a sticky situation,” Bo-Katan says hastily. “And since I can’t be with you all the time, though I’d like to, I can’t. So I figured having someone I trust to be with you most of the time would at least give me some measure of comfort - “

“Bo,” Ahsoka interrupts her rambling. “Bo, I get it. I know why you did it.”

“You did?”

“Yeah, it’s actually really sweet.”

Bo-Katan turns her head slightly to feel the smile on Ahsoka’s face, and relaxes into a smile of her own. “Good.”

“Good,” Ahsoka echoes her. “Besides, I’m pretty sure Maya knows about us.”

“Doesn’t everyone?” she asks, and Ahsoka smacks her on the stomach playfully.

“No, but really, I’m pretty sure people know. They’d have to be blind or stupid not to know.” Bo-Katan leans deeper into Ahsoka’s embrace. 

Ahsoka hums, and doesn’t say more. She rests her jaw on Bo-Katan’s shoulder again, her fingers absentmindedly trace patterns on Bo-Katan’s stomach. She doesn’t want to ruin the quiet calm between them now, but a nagging question bothers her. Bo-Katan can feel her discomfort, as Ahsoka’s fingers still. Bo-Katan turns her head, and presses her lips to Ahsoka’s arm. “What’s on your mind?”

Ahsoka exhales deeply. “What will you do now?” 

“We’ll give him the funeral he deserves, as a son of Satine and of Mandalore.” 

She freezes when she realizes what she’d said.

To Ahsoka’s credit, though her grip tightens around Bo-Katan’s hands in surprise, she remains silent, giving Bo-Katan time to retract her statement. But she doesn’t. Ahsoka chooses her words carefully. “I can't say I'm surprised, all things considered. Who else knows?”

“Only myself, Korkie, and Satine,” Bo-Katan says very quietly.

Ahsoka can’t help the small noise of surprise that escapes her lips. Bo-Katan pushes herself forward into a cross-legged position facing Ahsoka. Ahsoka mimics her, her look of surprise melding into one of understanding. “Master Kenobi’s the father, isn’t he.”

A nod.

“Did he know?”

Bo-Katan shakes her head with a forlorn expression. Ahsoka exhales deeply, a deep sorrow tugging at her soul. Obi-Wan died without knowing he had a son.

“Was she ever going to tell him? And how did you find out?”

Bo-Katan’s jaw shifts. “I didn’t know at first. When I left for Death Watch, I cut off all ties with Satine, and we did not speak until well, as you know, when we overthrew her,” she admits. Ahsoka can see her decades-long guilt coming back to gnaw at her again. 

“After Maul imprisoned Satine, I contacted Korkie and we tried to break her out.” she looks away. Ahsoka lays a hand on her knee, and the comforting touch helps her continue. “After we rescued Kenobi, Korkie and I tried to hold off Maul and Saxon as long as we could. I sent him off-world to keep him safe, but before he left, he gave me something.”

She gets off the bed and walks to her locker, pulling something from it. She inserts a holodisc into the reader in her vambrace and sits back on the bed. "There were multiple messages in it," she murmurs. Ahsoka leans forward when the holovideo starts playing.

It's Satine. A very young Satine. She couldn’t have been older than nineteen.

_ She's sitting on a balcony, the lights of Sundari twinkling in the background in the night. Her cheeks are tear-stained, her eyes puffy from crying.  _

_ “My dear Bo, I miss you so much. I don’t know when I’ll see you again, or how you’re ever going to see this, but know that I still love you and miss you.” Satine sniffles and wipes the tears flowing down her cheeks again. She huffs a small laugh. “I’m pregnant, Bo. Pregnant, can you believe that? You’d be so mad - the father is a jetii. Oh and heavens not the old one, the young handsome one. I wish you could be here to see your nephew grow up, I wish you could teach him how to be a warrior, because kriffing hell, he’s going to need it one day, as much as I hate to admit it.” Satine pauses, and sighs deeply, sadly. “I hope you’ll meet him one day, Bo.”  _

The video ends, and the next one begins.

_ Satine’s face is fuller this time, the video shakes a little as she adjusts the angle, to show the precious bundle in her arms. _

Ahsoka gasps softly, and her hand closes around Bo-Katan’s, who squeezes back tightly.

_ Satine smiles into the camera. “Look Bo, you’re officially an aunty now.” She chuckles, and tickles her son. “Look Korkie, say hello to your ba’vodu.” The infant yawns. Sabine looks down at him like he’s the most beautiful thing in the world. She looks back up at the camera, and her smile fades, “I won’t be able to raise him as my son, as I’m sure you’ll know why. I’ll tell everyone that he’s my nephew. It’s the only way.” She purses her lips, looking downcast. “I can’t let Obi-Wan know. He can never know, the Jedi will discard him. I won’t ask him to choose between me or the Jedi, it won’t be fair to him.” _

The video ends. Bo-Katan presses the button to skip forward. “There are quite a few from the years,” she mutters. “I want to show you the last one.” 

The Satine in this video looks older, closer to the age when Ahsoka knew her, towards the end of her life.

_ “Dearest Bo, I’m recording this as you’re probably about to overthrow me already. I hear your Death Watch commandos flying around the city, pirates and criminals running amok, I assume you had something to do with it.” A rueful smile comes over her face. “I don’t suppose I’ll have long, but I hope that when Pre comes to power, you make sure he does the right thing for our people. I don’t want our planet destroyed by another war, Bo. I hope you do the right thing by our people, by Mandalore.” She wipes an errant tear from her eye, and sighs. “Bo, take this as my last piece of advice to you. Since we were kids, you’ve always done what you thought was the right thing. It just sometimes wasn’t always the smart thing.” Her teary face melts into a fond smile. “I hate to say it, but you were impressive out there today, Bo. You’ll be a great leader one day, I know it. I love you always.”  _

The video ends.

Bo-Katan carefully takes out the holodisc, and stores it safely in the locked box in her locker. She feels Ahsoka’s arms wrap around her middle, and the gentle weight of Ahsoka’s chin on her shoulder. Together, they look at the photo of Satine and Bo-Katan tacked onto the locker. Both are young, bright, and laughing.

“It was taken at my Resol’nare, when I turned thirteen. Before everything went wrong,” Bo-Katan murmurs softly, her voice dripping in melancholy.

“Her faith in you was not misplaced. She would have been proud of you,” Ahsoka whispers. 

Bo-Katan bites her lip in a desperate attempt to keep her emotions in check. “I hope so,” she says hoarsely. "I just want to do right by them."

“You will,” Ahsoka says gently with conviction. 

She leans back into Ahsoka’s embrace. For now, this is enough.

* * *

Legions of Mandalorian soldiers stand at attention, two lines facing each other, the last rays of sun glinting off their beskar and weapons. A beautiful day for such a somber occasion. Beneath their helmets, their eyes track the movement of the casket borne slowly up the line. 

Bo-Katan and Fenn lead the way, stepping slowly into the sunlight, each holding one side of the casket. Behind them are Lagos and Soniee, friends of Korkie’s since their days as cadets in the Government Academy.

Reaching the front, they slowly lower the casket onto the dais. As one, the soldiers present turn sharply on their heels to face the dais. The casket-bearers step away, falling into position among the soldiers.

Bo-Katan stands stiffly in the setting sun, facing her people.

“We will remember Korkie, of Clan Kryze, last of his line. We will not forget, and we will avenge him." Bo-Katan's gaze sweeps across her soldiers. "We will retake Mandalore, and we will bring him home, we will bring them all home.  _ Oya manda! _ "

The soldiers slam their fists against their beskar, shouting back in unison, " _ oya manda _ !"

Bo-Katan turns to Korkie and kneels by his side. He's not buried in beskar'gam, he never had any to begin with. He always insisted to Bo-Katan that he was a diplomat, not a warrior. She had been so frustrated with him, had been close to tearing her hair out, but a small part of her was proud of him. Without a doubt, he was his mother's son. She saw the similar traits Korkie shared with his father too. Korkie had Kenobi’s calm and wisdom, for the most part, and a fierce sense of right and wrong.

She places her hand on his cold ones, drops her head, and mutters something that no one else hears. She looks at Korkie's face one last time. "Go,  _ ner vod _ , to where the sun sails and the moon walks.” She presses her lips to his forehead, straightens up, and turns back towards her soldiers.

Fenn approaches with a burning torch. She accepts it from him, and lowers it onto the wooden casket, watching as the flames lick around it.

At this point, the soldiers have broken ranks, watching the flames rise and smoke drift into the sky. Soniee and Lagos walk forward, taking one last look at their friend. Bo-Katan takes a few steps back, allowing them their moment. Maya’s hand clasps her shoulder briefly, and she pats Maya’s hand in gratitude.

She feels Ahsoka’s warm and comforting presence at her back, and allows herself to lean into it. She turns her head slightly and catches Maya’s eye, who’s smirking at her knowingly. Bo-Katan merely shrugs with a small smirk of her own. 

Her gaze wanders around the crowd, and she grins when she sees Din lifting Grogu up onto his shoulder so the kid could see above the crowd. The kid’s ears droop down, as he watches solemnly, understanding the occasion. Bo-Katan turns her full attention on the fire that is roaring by now, the flames licking across the night sky. 

As the night wears on, the fire continues to burn, and the tihaar starts flowing.

Bo-Katan feels pleasantly buzzed, the alcohol dulling the ache in her heart somewhat. Tonight is meant to both celebrate and grieve Korkie. She nestles deeper against Ahsoka, not caring what the others may think, if they didn’t already know.

She tilts her head, curious when the loud and raucous voices of the soldiers soften, and people nudging others sharply to hush. Across the night sky, a voice is lifted up in song. Bo-Katan cranes her neck to see who is singing.

It’s Soniee.

_ “Wander my friends, wander with me _

_ Like the mist on the green mountain, moving eternally _

_ Despite our weariness, _

_ We’ll follow the road _

_ Over hills and valleys _

_ To the end of the journey.” _

Hot tears prickle at the back of Bo-Katan’s eyes, and Ahsoka pulls her in closer. Around her, battle-hardened warriors are openly weeping. Soniee’s voice catches and she falters for a moment, but another voice joins her, and another, and another, as others in the crowd sing the following verse with her.

_ “Come on my friends and sing with me _

_ Fill the night with joy and sport _

_ Here’s a toast to the friends who have gone from us _

_ Like the mist of the green mountain _

_ Gone forever _

_ Wander my friends, wander with me.” _

Bo-Katan closes her eyes and lets the song wash over her, taking comfort in the words and harmonies envelop her in their warmth.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I loved the "Where the Sun Sails and Moon Walks" track from Rebels' OST, and as a Lord of the Rings fan, I'm happy to re-use this beautiful phrase anyway I can.
> 
> The lyrics for the song that Soniee sings is taken from the English translation of Bear McCreary's Wander my Friends track from Season 4 of the Battlestar Galactica OST. It's one of my favourite OST tracks, and seemed apt for this occasion.


	16. Calm Before the Storm

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bo-Katan receives surprising news from Sabine about Senator Organa and the New Republic's potential interest in Mandalore. She's ready to play the political game, but trouble brews over the horizon close to home.

_ 10 ABY _

Bo-Katan lands on her back heavily, her breath knocked out of her lungs. She allows herself to remain flat on the mat for a while, trying to catch her breath. Maya’s smug face leans over her. “Want to take a break?” 

She jerks back laughing when Bo-Katan swats at her in annoyance. “ _ Usenye! _ Let me breathe!” 

Still laughing, Maya backs away, reaching for her towel on the bench, wiping the sweat off her brow. “That was fun. We should do it more often.”

Bo-Katan flashes her a surly look. “You don’t think you get into enough fights on a regular basis? I should tell Ahsoka to bring you on her _ adventures _ more often then.”

“Speaking of adventures...” Maya jerks her head towards the door, where the person in question has appeared.

Ahsoka walks straight to Bo-Katan, holding a communicator, all business. “Sabine’s looking for you.”

“Hello to you too,” Maya greets her sarcastically, and receives a soft punch to the arm in response.

Curious, Bo-Katan takes the communicator from her. It’s unusual for Sabine to contact her directly, their communications are typically in the setting of their weekly briefings with the council. She flicks the holo on.

“Lady Bo-Katan,” Sabine greets her.

“Sabine, it’s good to see you. I assume this isn’t a social call,” Bo-Katan says with an arched eyebrow.

Sabine gives her a wry smile. “Indeed not. I’m on Yavin at the moment, and I spoke with Senator Leia Organa yesterday.” Bo-Katan and Ahsoka exchange a surprised look. “We had dinner together, and she said some interesting things.”

Bo-Katan gestures for Maya to come closer.

“Oh, hi Maya,” Sabine says when Maya appears on the holo and waves at her cheerfully.

“And what interesting things did the good princess say?” Bo-Katan asks.

“She wanted to know how we’re doing, if we had plans to return to Mandalore.”

Maya's eyebrows lift up in surprise, and Bo-Katan purses her lips, her fingers tapping on her gauntlet, thinking. “How much does she know about us, about Mandalore?”

“She knows a fair bit, she knows her history, has done some research. She knew about the rebellion against the Saxons, about the Purge, about you. She knows that you lead a group of us, but she doesn’t know where, or how many. I think she assumes that we’re still scattered across the galaxy.”

“Well, she wouldn’t be wrong about that either,” Maya says with a shrug.

“Well either way, she wants to meet with you -”

“With me?” Bo-Katan barks in surprise.

Sabine looks amused. “Yes. She wants to meet with you, my best guess is to see for herself if you’re someone she can work with. From what I gather, she’s still adding members to the Senate for the New Republic.”

Bo-Katan scoffs. “Mandalore isn’t going to be part of the New Republic, we’ve always been neutral.”

“I know, I know.” Sabine raises a hand to placate her. “I’m not saying that we  _ should _ join the New Republic, I’m just saying that she’s interested to meet you, and I don’t think it’s necessarily a bad thing to just meet her, understand what she wants.”

Maya nudges Bo-Katan. “I agree. It’s a good idea.”

“We can’t be seen as being too friendly with the New Republic either,” Bo-Katan says darkly. “You know how sensitive our people are about these things.” She takes a deep breath, and h er voice takes on a more bitter and heated tone. “Frankly, I find it impressive that she mentioned the Purge, yet the New Republic never bothered to lift a finger to help us. And now she wants to meet me?”

Ahsoka lays a hand gently on the small of her back to pull her back from a quick descent to anger. "Bo," she says quietly. 

To Ahsoka’s surprise, it works. Bo-Katan relaxes, her bunched up muscles releasing the tension, and she exhales deeply, rubbing her temples. “Right. I’m sorry, Sabine,” she apologizes.

The younger woman shrugs it off with a small smile. “Don’t worry, I made my position on that clear to her. She knows we have a long memory.”

“ _ Ori’jate _ , Sabine,” Maya chuckles.

_ “Kandosii _ ,” Bo-Katan agrees. “Alright, find out more on what it is she’s looking for. Remind her that we’re not necessarily looking at joining the New Republic. What we need are options, what she wants from us, and what she can give us in return.”

Sabine nods. “She’s here for a few more days, let me try to get her time. It’s fairly easy to do that here, it’s in Coruscant that they’re all falling over her.” Her nose wrinkles in disgust. “The politics on that planet is not to my liking.”

“It’s not to the liking of many, Sabine. You’re not alone in that.” Ahsoka smiles wanly at her.

Maya snorts and gives Bo-Katan a crooked grin. “Satine never enjoyed her trips to Coruscant either. You’d hate it, all those pompous Senator brats and Coruscanti people. So arrogant, they just think we're a bunch of savage barbarians from the Outer Rim.”

“No doubt.” Bo-Katan returns the grin. “Sabine, inform Senator Organa that I’m willing to speak with her, and if you can, go to Coruscant to find out more about this new Senate.”

Sabine’s expression turns more serious then. “There’s something else I wanted to talk to you about. Soldiers here have received intel that large groups of Imperial remnants have been gathering on Dantooine. It’s been flagged as something to investigate, a potential threat, but no one knows much more than that.”

Bo-Katan frowns. “How large?”

“Multiple battalions of troopers have been spotted, TIE fighters, more worryingly, there’s rumors of an Imperial cruiser spotted in the Dantooine system too.”

“That is concerning, if they’re gathering so openly in the Outer Rim, and so close to us.” Maya’s face pinches in worry.

“Is the New Republic doing anything about it?” Bo-Katan asks sharply. Sabine’s look of displeasure is the answer she needs. “Of course not,” she murmurs in frustration. “Find out more, will you, Sabine? We need to be prepared.”

“I’ll do that. I’ll speak to Senator Organa as soon as I can.”

“Excellent. Update me once you have more information.”

Sabine salutes her smartly. “I will,” she says, before switching off her holo.

Ahsoka nudges Bo-Katan. “So? How are we proceeding on this?”

“Let’s give Sabine another day to find out more about Dantooine, but Maya, I want you to prep a recon mission to depart in two days. Ahsoka, can we get a list of the current Senators? It may give us a better idea of who the friendly faces are”

Ahsoka hums in agreement. “I’ll call Rex, see if he can help us. I’ll catch you later,” she says, before hurrying from the gym.

It leaves just the two of them, and Bo-Katan glances at Maya, whose face is still scrunched in worry, hands twisting her towel. “You’re worried,” Bo-Katan says matter-of-factly.

“I think I should go to Dantooine today, we shouldn’t wait.” Bo-Katan opens her mouth to protest, but Maya continues, “Dantooine is just too close. Please, let me do this. I got a bad feeling about this.”

Bo-Katan sighs. She doesn’t question Maya’s rationale, simply her paranoia. She relents. “Fine, take one more person, I don’t want you going alone.” Maya nods briskly and is about to turn away when Bo-Katan grabs her arm. “Recon  _ only _ . Do not engage,” she warns Maya.

A small smile quirks up on Maya’s lips. “Understood.”

Bo-Katan pulls away. “Good. Stay safe out there.”  Maya nods again and walks out of the gym.

* * *

“Man, you need a new ship.”

Din glances over at Maya, who’s got her feet propped up on the dashboard, watching the lights of hyperspace with a mug of caf in hand, groaning as she tries to shift into a more comfortable position in the co-pilot's chair.

“I take great offence at that, what's wrong with my ship?” Din says drily, smacking her legs. “Feet off my dash!”

Maya chuckles obnoxiously and keeps her feet up, he rolls his eyes underneath his helmet. “This is a real rust bucket, you’re lucky it’s got charm.”

Din pats the console. “We’ve been through a lot together.” Maya just shrugs at him with her smile still on her lips, and leans back into her chair. Din purses his lips, and decides to ask Maya a question that has been burning on his mind since they left Concordia. 

“Why’d you take me?”

“Beg your pardon?” 

“I mean, why’d you take me on this recon mission? I can’t be your usual choice.”

Maya huffs a laugh. “You’ve been with us for over a year, why wouldn’t you be my choice? Anyway, I figured you needed some excitement in your life, after looking after the kid full-time.”

“You’re not wrong about that,” Din admits with a shrug.

Maya lowers her feet from the dash, and turns to face Din, looking a little more serious. “It’s not easy raising a kid, in peacetime or in a war.”

Din waggles a finger at her. “By all accounts, you pulled it off pretty well,” he says with a note of teasing in his voice. “Any tips?”

Maya leans back in her chair, taking another sip of her caf, looking thoughtful. “Honestly Din, I don’t know if I did it right, if I’m  _ doing _ it right.” She huffs a self-deprecating laugh. “I don’t know about you, but I never felt so afraid in my life when I took her in. I just did it, you know? Didn’t even think twice, I just knew she had nowhere else to go, and someone needed to take care of her. I only started to freak out when I took her back to the base, and sat with her that first night. I asked myself what the hell am I doing? I’m not equipped for this.”

Din laughs. “I felt the exact way when the Armourer told me we were a Clan of Two, and charged me with returning Grogu to the Jedi.”

A wistful smile comes over Maya’s face. “It’s funny how quickly your priorities change when you get a kid. Things that I used to treasure suddenly became far less important, seemingly overnight.”

Din hums in agreement.

“You’re a good man, Din. Grogu is lucky to have a father like you,” Maya says with a warm smile, and she doesn’t miss the contented little sigh that escapes DIn’s lips when he hears that. 

He remains silent for a while, and the moment is only broken when Maya leans forward with a cheeky look on her face. “You’re not crying underneath that helmet, are you?”

“No,” Din grumbles in a way that suggests the complete opposite and Maya laughs. 

“It’ll be our little secret then.” She leans back with a self-satisfied smirk.

Din is about to respond when a beeping noise fills their air. He looks down at the console. “We’re almost there.” He looks over at Maya, and almost marvels at her ability to switch gears effortlessly.

The teasing, playful look on her face has disappeared within seconds, replaced by a serious, stony expression. She gives him a brisk nod.

Din counts down. “Exiting hyperspace in, three, two, one.”

The ship bursts into the Dantooine system, and as Din turns the ship around to the planet, his jaw drops.

“ _ Ka’ra _ ,” he gasps as he looks out the window at the forces gathered. He turns to Maya, wide-eyed. “This is bad, really bad.”

Maya stares out the window, her expression numb. "Those aren't numbers we could take on," she murmurs. "Fuck."

The Razor Crest drifts slowly, as Din waits for Maya's decision.

" Din, if we power down the ship and engage only low thrusters, how much closer can we get to snap some photos without the ship getting detected?” 

“Let me see what I can do.” 

After snapping sufficient photos documenting the fleet, Maya nods at him. “Let’s get back,  _ now _ ,” she growls, punching in the coordinates for home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sabine is finally here, travelling around the galaxy with Ezra, playing diplomat, I'd assume, representing the interests of Mandalore. And at some point, Leia shall appear? Hmm.
> 
> I thought it was important for Din and Maya to gave a bonding session over being single parents. I've so much respect for folks who single-handedly raise a child while juggling full-time job(s).
> 
> Mando'a translations:  
> Usenye: Go away


	17. The Reckoning

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> With Moff Gideon and his Imperial forces at Concordia's doorstep, the Mandalorians scramble against time to muster up their defences, and come up with a plan to counter their enemy's overwhelming numbers. 
> 
> Bo-Katan however has more things to worry about, as desperation drives her seconds to take drastic measures to ensure her safety.

_ 10 ABY _

Bo-Katan jerks awake to the incessant beeping of her commlink. Ahsoka's arm slung over her hips slips off as she also sits up.

"What the hell?" Bo-Katan mumbles blearily, reaching through the darkness for her commlink on the bedside table.

Maya’s voice comes over the comms on loudspeaker, frantic. “Bo, there are two Imperial cruisers in orbit over Dantooine. We’re heading back now.”

"WHAT!" Bo-Katan spits out, her shocked gaze meets Ahsoka's horrified one. “Are they heading here?”

“No indication of where they’re going. Their fighters are docked, only movement are the shuttles for refueling and restocking of supplies.”

_ “Osik! _ Never mind that, you come back now, we’ll speak when you’re back,” Bo-Katan tells her.

“Copy that.”

Bo-Katan turns immediately to Ahsoka when the call ends. Ahsoka has already rolled off the bed, buckling her belt, clipping her lightsabers to her belt. Bo-Katan raises the commlink again. “Benn! Set Condition Two throughout the base. Have the captains meet me at the command center asap.”

The urgency of her voice snaps Benn out of his sleepiness. “Yes ma’am!”

Seconds later, the base starts blaring with red lights, and Benn’s voice comes over the speakers. “Set Condition Two throughout the base, this is not a drill.”

Bo-Katan and Ahsoka hurry to the command center, pushing past the frenzy of soldiers rushing into battle stations following the announcement. On the way, they run straight into a frazzled-looking Fenn. “What a karking nightmare,” he curses, shoving the door to the command center open.

Bursting into the command center, Bo-Katan makes a beeline for Benn. Her mouth falls open in shock when she sees the images on the screen. “Is that - “

He nods. “Maya sent over these images.”

“ _ Mir’osik,” _ she breathes.

“We can’t be sure of where they’re heading next though,” Benn says, as though to bring some comfort to her.

“No,” Bo-Katan says, shaking her head. “But it can’t be a coincidence that they’re so close to us. Keep watch of this, and let me know the moment anything changes, or when Maya gets back.” She turns to the others. “Fenn, make sure our ships and defences are ready. Ursa, I want an inventory of our supplies, rations, ammunition, everything.” They salute and walk away briskly to handle their assignments. 

Bo-Katan turns her focus back on the images. “We need an estimate on the number of troopers he has on those ships.” 

“At its peak, there were at least four thousand troopers on one ship,” Ahsoka replies. "These days it could be any number from five hundred to a thousand on each ship."

“We’ve got three hundred, max, if we count the cadets,” Bo-Katan says glumly. The implication is clear, they’re outnumbered and outgunned. She turns back to the images. “The question is, why now? Why attack us now?”

Ahsoka shakes her head. “Your guess is as good as mine, Bo.”

Bo-Katan is still in the command center three hours later when Maya and Din return from Dantooine. She erupts to her feet when Maya enters the room, and throws her a sharp salute. 

“Bo. I couldn’t tell you how much time we have. They could be heading here, or somewhere else. But if they are coming here, they’ll be here by nightfall.”

“What are we looking at?” Bo-Katan asks, looking worried.

“We couldn’t get close enough,” Maya says as she zooms in on an image that Benn has flashed up on the holoprojector, and points to it. “But judging from the number of fuel tankers we saw, I’d say they’ve got at least forty TIE fighters for each cruiser.”

Bo-Katan frowns. “That’s still more than half strength, and we only have twenty functional fighters.” She exhales deeply. “What about troopers?”

“Hard to say,” Maya says, lips pursed. “It stands to reason it’s at half strength as well.”

“That’s still a potential of us facing four thousand troopers,” Fenn growls, dismay creeping onto his features.

“At this point, there’s nothing more we can do,” Bo-Katan says sharply. “We can only prepare as best as we can, and hope to the stars that they’re not coming here.” She turns to Maya. “I want you on the south entrance, Ursa’s on the north, and Fenn’s taking Skull Squadron the moment the bastards get into our space.”

“Copy that.” Maya gives her a brisk nod.

Bo-Katan looks at Din. “And you’re on dad duty.”

“But - “

“No buts, Din. I know you’re a hell of a pilot, but Grogu’s your first priority, always has been. Let’s keep it that way, I don’t want Gideon getting his hands on him,” Bo-Katan says, and claps a hand on his shoulder. He nods in gratitude, and she looks around at her seconds. “Everyone get some rest, if they’re really coming, we may not have long. So take the opportunity while you still can.” The others murmur in acknowledgement, and Maya squeezes her shoulder before she walks out. 

“You should get some rest too, before it all goes to hell.”

Bo-Katan gives her a tight smile. “There will be no rest for me tonight, my friend.” 

Maya’s eyes soften and she nods once more at Bo-Katan before leaving the command center. Bo-Katan’s eyes turn back to the screen, watching the empty radar.

* * *

"Two Imperial ships just jumped into orbit!"

Bo-Katan jerks awake from her seat in the pantry, spilling her half-empty cup of caf all over the table, when she hears Benn’s panicked yell. 

"Are they launching fighters?" she asks, sprinting to the screens, staring at the radar, looking at the two blinking red dots.

"No, not yet."

She breathes a sigh of relief. "Get the others, and put the alert out.”

Benn nods and reaches for the microphone. “Action stations, action states, set Condition One throughout the base. This is not a drill. I repeat, this is not a drill.” 

He puts down the microphone, curses, and then looks up again. “They’ve opened a line of communication with us. Do you want to speak with them?”

“What!” Bo-Katan barks, leaning closer. Benn points to the screen, and she relents. “Alright, put them on.”

The hologram crackles to life, and Moff Gideon is standing there, arms crossed in front of his chest, looking gleeful.

“What do you want, Gideon?” Bo-Katan snaps.

His lip curls. “What do I want? Lady Bo-Katan, you have something I want.” He pauses, cocking an eyebrow. “Or maybe two things.”

Bo-Katan matches him with a disdainful sneer. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

He laughs. “Come on, I’m not stupid. I know you broke into Megalox Beta with your people and your Jedi friend. My troopers saw those very distinctive white lightsabers, wielded by a very familiar Togruta, may I say.”

Bo-Katan's jaw clenches, and now she wishes she had blown the place to smithereens, or just not allowed Ahsoka on the mission, anything to shield her from the Empire's roving gaze.

"I know it's the same Jedi who helped you capture Maul during the Siege of Mandalore, and came to save you that night in Sundari during the Purge, isn't it? Here you are together after all these years. It's rather _...touching _ ."

Bo-Katan feels bile rise in her throat at the malice in his voice. From the corner of her eye, she sees Fenn, Ursa, Maya, and Ahsoka have entered the command center, and are standing to the side, watching the interaction.

"We both have something the other wants. I have your Darksaber, you have two Jedi."

Bo-Katan's face darkens at the mention of the Darksaber.

"You don't believe me do you?" he laughs, and pulls out the Darksaber, igniting it, the crackle loud and clear for all to hear. He brandishes it across the hologram. "I took good care of it for you since the night you dropped it so carelessly on the street."

Bo-Katan’s nostrils flare. “That is an ancient heirloom that belongs to my people. You have no business wielding it.”

He laughs, a mocking noise. “There’s no need to quarrel over who this relic belongs to. Can you and I not sit down and speak, warrior to warrior? Can we not have peace, and agree on an amenable arrangement?”

“We will have peace.” Bo-Katan looks straight at him, ignoring the shocked whispers of the people behind her, not least Maya. Her voice hardens. “We will have peace, when you answer for the burning of our cities - Sundari, Krownest, Kalevala, and the children that lie dead there! We will have peace, when the lives of my people, whose bodies were trampled on as they lay dead in the cities, whose lives were taken by that foul machine, are avenged!” She jabs a finger at him, snarling, “when I kill you and hang your body from the palace in front of my people, we will have peace.”

Gideon’s fake cordialness quickly morphs into visceral anger and disgust. “You foolish, arrogant Mandalorians, holding on to your traditions so tightly, and for what? I will come for you, as I demonstrated not that long ago, I have no problem with levelling a whole city of you. I’ve destroyed and plundered your pathetic excuse for a capital city, killed your people and your families, what do you have left?”

_“Besom!”_ Bo-Katan isn’t quick enough to stop Maya from leaping forward, her face contorted in rage. “Let me kill this _chakaar_ for you, that’ll wipe that smirk off his face.”

Gideon’s eyes gleam when he sees Maya, and his gaze flits towards Fenn, noting the distinctive insignia and colours on their armour. “Ah, I see there are Protectors who still draw breath.” Fenn stiffens, and Gideon laughs again. “There is no need for Protectors anymore. You cannot think that this terrorist will ever sit upon the throne. This exile, crept from the shadows will never be crowned Mand’alor.”

Maya looks like she’s about to erupt. Bo-Katan lays a staying hand on her chest, pushing her back slightly.  _ “Udesii,” _ she whispers.

“Yes listen to your Mand’alor, Protector,” Gideon sneers mockingly. “I’ve had enough of these games, you either give me one of them, or I come and take both of them from you.”

“Is that a threat?” Bo-Katan growls in a low voice.

His eyebrows quirk up in amusement. “Of course this is a threat, Lady Bo-Katan. Just give her up, or the child, and this will all be over."

“I’m not giving her up,” Bo-Katan growls, and her gaze betrays her by flicking to Ahsoka briefly.

Gideon sees it, and his face lights up. " _ Her? _ How interesting. Mandalorian, I’m giving you back your right to rule your planet. Is that not worth more than this Jedi? They are relics of a bygone era.” 

Bo-Katan shakes her head slowly. “You are the relic of a bygone era. The Empire is gone, Gideon.”

“Then why am I here at your planet’s doorstep? Meet me tomorrow at sunrise in the throne room in Sundari. I’m sure you know your way around there. If you do not come, I will strafe a hole in this little moon of yours. You may bring one other with you, no more. We will speak tomorrow.” The hologram feed cuts out.

Bo-Katan whirls around, eyes blazing, and starts barking out instructions. “Benn, I want you watching this. If anything changes, they break orbit, you let me know immediately. Maya, secure my transport to Sundari for tomorrow.” She turns to walk away when Ahsoka pulls at her arm, jerking her back.

“We need to talk about this,” Ahsoka hisses in a low voice.

“I agree,” Maya steps closer, looking furious.

Bo-Katan yanks her arm out of Ahsoka’s grip, glaring at the both of them. “There’s nothing to talk about, I’m not giving him what he wants.”

“You won’t have a choice, Bo! He’s going to destroy this place!”

“Which is why I need to go to Sundari tomorrow! Then I’m going to kill him!”

“Bo, this is madness! He’s going to kill you!” Ahsoka can no longer control the emotion in her voice. 

“And what would you have me do?” Bo-Katan is suddenly up in her face. Ahsoka can feel fear coursing through every fabric of Bo-Katan’s being. Fear for her people, for Ahsoka. “Are you really asking me to give you or Grogu up? He may be  _ jetii _ , but he is also a foundling. And you! You’re my - “ she cuts herself off abruptly, looking furious.

Ahsoka grabs her shoulder. “You must send for aid.”

“And who will come?” Bo-Katan asks, her voice cold and Ahsoka flinches, it's a tone Bo-Katan has not used with her since they became friends. “We’re alone, Ahsoka, we have been for a while.”

“Leia and the New Republic will come.”

A mirthless laugh escapes Bo-Katan’s lips. “The New Republic? Where were Leia’s rebels when Sundari burned? Where were they when the Empire hunted us down, one by one? Where were they - ” she stops, breathing heavily, trying to calm herself down. “No, Ahsoka, we’re alone, no one's coming.” 

She storms past Ahsoka and out of the command center. 

Ahsoka spins to face Maya. "You need to talk sense into her."

Maya throws her hands out helplessly. "What do you want me to do? There's no good option!"

"I turn myself in, that's what," Ahsoka says desperately. "It's the only thing - " 

She’s interrupted by Maya seizing the front of her shirt. “You’ll do no such thing!” she growls. “Whether or not you turn yourself in, Gideon is still going to come for Bo. And when that happens, I want you nearby, not locked up in a cell or worse!” She releases her grip on Ahsoka’s shirt and steps back. “But don’t worry, I’m going to make sure she doesn’t get on that ship tomorrow.”

Ahsoka looks at her suspiciously. “Do I even want to know?”

Maya shakes her head. “No, you don’t. Best you don’t get involved in this, but trust me, I’ll get it done.”

Ahsoka watches her walk away, her stomach twisting with discomfort, afraid of what the Protector is going to do in her attempt to protect Bo-Katan.

* * *

Ahsoka was right to be concerned.

Bo-Katan jerks awake. She turns onto her side with a groan. Her head is throbbing with a dull ache. She forces her eyes open and looks at her surroundings. She’s in her quarters, on her bed. 

She sits up, and rubs the sleep from her eyes. She reaches for the commlink attached to her vambrace on her bedside table, but her hand comes up empty. 

She leaps to her feet and looks around the room. Her armour is missing, her helmet, everything.

“No,” she whispers, as the realization of what happened a few hours ago creeps in. 

Maya had invited herself into Bo-Katan’s quarters to finalize the plans for the base’s defence and for the meeting with Moff Gideon. She remembers Maya pulling out a bottle of tihaar for a  _ “final drink for luck”  _ before turning in for the night, and then her memory of the night’s events ends there. 

Stomach churning, she looks at the chrono on the wall. 05:00.

_ “Harr’chak!” _ she bellows into the empty room. 

She flings the door open and sprints down the corridor, ignoring the surprised looks on her soldiers’ faces, as she blasts by them barefoot and armour-less. She bursts into the command center, and the visible shock on the soldiers’ faces is sufficient to confirm her suspicions.

Benn’s face turns pale.

“Where’s Maya?” Bo-Katan shouts at him.

“She’s probably checking on the perimeter - “ he yelps when Bo-Katan seizes him by the lip of his chestplate and drags him towards her enraged face.

“She took the ship to Sundari didn’t she?” she snarls. 

“Uh…”

“Didn’t she!” Bo-Katan shouts.

He squeezes his eyes shut, knowing that the charade was up. “Yes, she took the ship, they left thirty minutes ago.”

“They?”

“Maya and Ursa.”

Bo-Katan can’t decide if she wants to throw up, punch him in the face, or just tear her hair out. She releases him, hands clasped over her head.  _ “Mir’osik! _ Patch me through to her, now.”  Benn scrambles away from her, reaching for the consoles, and furiously typing in the numbers for the comms channel.

"What is the meaning of this! What the  _ hell _ were you thinking!" Bo-Katan barks at Maya the moment the hologram feed starts.

Maya is wearing Bo-Katan's armour. She shrugs unapologetically. "You didn't give me a choice, Bo.”

"Didn’t give you -  _ harr'chak!  _ This is ridiculous! Do you have a death wish! What are you going to do, trick him - "

"Helmet doesn't have to come off, Gideon doesn't have to know until I kill him," Maya interrupts her before she can launch into a tirade, a picture of obnoxious calm in the face of Bo-Katan's furor.

_ "Ka’ra!  _ You're trying to get yourself killed!"

"Not like you had a better plan!" Maya points a finger at her accusingly. "The only difference in our plans is that I'm expendable, you're not!"

Bo-Katan looks stricken. “That’s not true, you’re not expendable.”

Maya's face twists into a sad smile. "That's exactly what a Protector is, Bo _. _ That is the oath I swore."

“But you swore to  _ me, _ and I'm telling you to come back,” Bo-Katan argues, desperately. “Does that mean nothing to you?”

A look of hurt briefly flickers across Maya’s face. “It means everything to me. But I also promised Satine years ago that I’d protect you no matter what."

Bo-Katan groans. “Maya, we’ve been through this. You can’t keep saying that - “

“A promise is a promise.” 

“Yes, I know, but - “

“I’m not having this argument. I have a promise to keep, and an oath to fulfill. We're doing this,” Maya says with an air of finality.

Bo-Katan wants to scream at her, to chase after Maya's ship herself but she knows she won't make it in time. Right now she can only hope that they succeed and survive. She turns to the other woman in the hologram. “Ursa?” she says quietly. "You knew?"

Ursa exchanges a look with Maya before replying. "You mean the promise this  _ di’kut _ made to the Duchess? Yes, I found out when she refused to abandon you at the Tatooine skirmish."

Bo-Katan blinks. "That was twenty five years ago."

"Yeah, I know," she says simply. Bo-Katan now regrets that she didn’t take the time to sort things out with Ursa, and now two of her oldest friends were on a suicidal mission, one born out of a desire to keep her safe. 

“Please come back safe, both of you." She means it as an apology, an olive branch.

Ursa’s rigid expression relaxes into a genuine, familiar smile. “Thank you, Bo. We’ll see you soon.”

Bo-Katan steps closer.  _ “K’oyacyi.” _

_ “Oya manda,”  _ they say in unison, and with one last salute, Maya switches off the hologram.

A heavy silence weighs upon the command center as Bo-Katan stares at the holotable blankly. She’s roused from her reverie by someone calling her name. She turns around to see Koska standing in front of her, holding out a set of keys.

“Maya left you something in her quarters,” she says, voice hoarse from crying, eyes red-rimmed. 

Bo-Katan studies her. So Maya either kept Koska in the dark too, or they had a long and painful discussion about it.

She lays a hand on Koska’s shoulder, gripping it firmly. “She’s going to be okay, you know that right?” Though, she doesn’t know who she’s trying to convince, Koska or herself. Koska sighs and gives her a short nod, before turning and striding out of the command center.

Unlocking the door and stepping into Maya’s room, Bo-Katan sees Maya’s full set of  _ beskar’gam _ laid out for her. She huffs out a watery laugh when she gets a closer look at it. 

Maya had made some slight modifications before she left. The Nite Owls sigil on the helmet has been freshly painted. Her hand brushes over the armour, feeling every dent and bump in it, and reaches the sigil of Clan Kryze, with a newly painted Darksaber underneath it, on the left side of the chestplate, over the heart of the wearer. Tears prickle at the back of her eyes. Amidst all the planning she must have conducted last night, she still found the time to painstakingly prepare this for Bo-Katan.

On the table next to the helmet is a holodisc, and a note underneath it. She picks it up and looks at the familiarly atrocious handwriting,  _ “to be played only if I don’t make it, so don’t watch it now, you di’kut. Speak soon.” _

Bo-Katan sits down heavily on the chair, staring at the note.

* * *

_ 10 BBY _

“I’m not letting you go on this mission alone, Bo.”

Bo-Katan frowns, “What are you talking about? We don’t have time for this.“ 

“Doesn’t matter, all you need to know is that I promised to keep you safe.”

“And I’m telling you that in this case, my word precedes your oath as Protector,” Bo-Katan fires back. 

“Not in this case,” Maya’s eyes glint, not backing down.

Bo-Katan approaches Maya. “Then tell me. Who did you make this promise to?”

Maya’s jaw stiffens. “Do not ask this of me,” she says quietly.

“Tell me.” Bo-Katan grabs Maya’s shoulder. “That’s an order.”

The other woman looks away. Her throat bobs as she swallows heavily, and she mutters a curse under her breath. “I promised the Duchess that I’d protect you, no matter what."

Bo-Katan freezes, her hand slips off Maya’s shoulder, and she takes a step back. “That makes no kriffing sense. Satine would never have reached out to anyone from Death Watch. It would’ve been against her principles to negotiate with terrorists.”

Something in Maya breaks when she hears the disdain and dismissal in Bo-Katan’s tone. A rush of anger and bitterness that she didn’t know she still had within her, despite her great love for her friend and leader, courses through her veins. Against her better judgement, she steps forward, suddenly nose-to-nose with Bo-Katan.

"Not principles, but her devotion to you!"

"Devotion? I don’t know what spices you’ve been sniffing - “

"How else could you describe Satine sending a Protector to look out for you in Death Watch!” 

“What!“ 

"After Satine learnt that you joined Death Watch, she was worried sick about you, afraid you’d get yourself killed doing something stupid. But despite you picking the other side, she still wanted to protect you. She asked me to join Death Watch so I could have your back.” Maya jabbed a finger at Bo-Katan’s chest.

Bo-Katan's forehead creased in confusion, struggling to comprehend. “You’re telling me, all those years, that you were a spy for Satine?”

Maya looked offended at the suggestion. "I was no  _ spy. _ We never had any contact, we couldn't risk it. She - I knew there was no coming back."

Floored by the reveal, guilt and conflict tore at Bo-Katan. Guilt knowing her best friend uprooted her entire life on an order given by Satine to look after her, that she had to lie for years pretending to believe in Death Watch, but worst of all, knowing that Satine still loved her even though Bo turned on her.

But a deep sense of betrayal also rushed through her veins. 

“Was everything you told me a lie? Was - is our friendship built on her lie?” she barked at Maya. In her tumultuous mix of emotions, she settled on anger, irrational anger. “Satine sent you after me? That fool! And you! What blind devotion clouded your judgement - "

Maya looked angry then. “Your sister was no fool! She loved you, all she wanted to do was to protect you!”

"Protect me?" Bo-Katan's voice was shrill in her disbelief. "She called us terrorists, exiled us -"

"You joined Death Watch, what did you expect her to do? You were trying to overthrow your own damn sister, your own blood! What else do you want?”

Bo-Katan shook her head, unwilling to believe it as years of hurt bubble to the surface. "She hated me! She banished me! She gave - " she stopped herself, clapping a hand over her mouth before she could continue her outburst.

Maya knew exactly where Bo-Katan’s thought process was heading. "Satine never gave up on you. She always hoped you’d come back, and you proved her right, at the very end."

The quietly spoken words hit her like a gut punch.

They had gone on the mission, and it was a resounding success. Later that night, the two of them stole away from the raucous party to continue their conversation, overlooking a lake.

“Why did you stay?” Bo-Katan has asked quietly, heart pounding in her chest, afraid of what her friend might say. “When Satine was gone, I mean,” she hastily clarified. “Your oath was ended, you didn’t have to.” 

“Because I wanted to.”

The immediacy with which she replied took Bo-Katan by surprise. A small corner of Maya’s lip lifted up in response. “By then, you had already chosen your side, a side that I would gladly fight for, oath or no.”

Bo-Katan blinked back the sudden wave of emotion that threatens to crush her chest. 

"When you tried to rescue Satine, and helped Kenobi get out of the city, I knew.”

“Knew what?” 

Maya gave her a wistful smile. “That Satine was right. That she did not misplace her faith in you. She believed there was something in you that was worth trusting, worth fighting for. And not just the fact that you were her sister. She thought the world of you. She knew you’d make a great leader one day.”

Bo-Katan jumped to her feet, and started pacing up and down, all the while shaking her head in a rejection of Maya’s words. In a twisted form of self-punishment, she couldn’t allow herself to accept such kind words and sentiment from Maya, from Satine. “No, I’m not. Satine was wrong, you’re wrong. There’s no forgiving the things I’ve done, the things I’ve failed to do - “

“Bo, listen to me,” Maya interrupted her rambling, raising a hand imploringly.

Bo-Katan stopped moving, but kept her gaze fixed to a point on the far horizon.

“Bo. Do you know what I see, when I look at you?” Maya asked her.

A petulant part of her wanted to retort with something sarcastic, but she decided to hold her tongue and just shake her head, still refusing to turn around.

“Come here, and look me in the eyes, Kryze,” Maya said commandingly. Bo-Katan turned back around and looked at her friend. Her voice was rough, but passionate. “I see someone moulded by her circumstances, has tried to do her best with the cards that she has been dealt, and has come out the other side stronger, wiser, better. Someone who has always tried to do the right thing for her people. Someone who had so many chances to give up, but never did.”

Bo-Katan’s gaze dropped to the ground again, and she blinked furiously when she felt her eyes prickling. She felt her walls slowly crumbling, and she shook her head mutely, afraid that she’d break if she tried to say anything. Maya pressed ahead, seemingly determined to single-handedly dismantle the entire wall. Her finger gently tipped Bo-Katan’s chin up, lifting her downcast eyes again.

“Bo, I hated you when you joined Death Watch. I resented you for my having to leave Sundari. But I grew to see you as a great warrior, then we became friends, real friends. After what you tried to do for Satine, for Kenobi, for Mandalore, being able to put your pride aside and ask Ahsoka and the Republic for help, I know I made the right choice to remain by your side.”

She huffed out a small, fond laugh. “And when you rejected the Empire, I knew exactly who you were. You were a leader that I would follow till the end, to whatever end. A real mando’ad, the Mand’alor. And your story is not over, there are still many things for you to accomplish. That I know.”

Bo-Katan stared at her, overwhelmed. Maya tugged Bo-Katan into a warm embrace, and Bo-Katan gripped her back tightly. “You should hate me,” she whispered into Maya’s shoulder, and she felt a rumble of laughter in Maya’s body.

“How could I?” Maya whispered. “You’ve led us this far, and I know you won’t fail us now.”

Bo-Katan pulled away abruptly. “I’m a terrible leader. If I was as great a leader as you believe I am, would we not be back in Sundari now, overseeing a prosperous Mandalore?” 

“What you need is faith, Bo-Katan Kryze.” Maya pats her cheek gently. “I can’t convince you of that, as much as I want to. Only you can. Just think about it, okay?”

* * *

_ 10 ABY _

Faith.

Bo-Katan’s hand closes over the holodisc, and she tucks it into the innermost pocket of her jumpsuit before reaching for the  _ beskar’gam _ that Maya had laid out for her.

“I know you won’t fail me  _ ner vod, _ and I won’t fail you either,” she mutters, sending out a prayer to her friend.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh look, Moff Gideon is finally here. Giancarlo Esposito has made him quite a delightfully smug villain, and I hope I managed to capture some of that here.
> 
> Maya's decision to masquerade as Bo on this mission to assassinate Moff Gideon is inspired by my having watched Troy too many times as a kid (RIP Patroclus). Plus, I wanted an excuse to pair up two of Bo's oldest friends (Maya, Ursa) on this crazy mission, because despite the falling out between Ursa and Bo, it makes sense that Ursa would step up to the plate here and do the right thing.
> 
> I came up with the idea of Satine sending Maya to look after Bo, after really considering the interactions between Bo and Satine in 'Lawless' episode. Sure she displayed a modicum of distrust towards her sister in the beginning of the episode, but she quickly accepted her back, and had enough faith in her to come rescue her, based on her informing Obi-Wan that she needed to contact her sister while trying to escape. It felt weird to me that Satine would have completely abandoned her sister after she went into exile. So in my head-canon, I invented this whole storyline about Satine sending in an undercover Protector to look after her kid sister! Hope it's not too wild a stretch.
> 
> As always, comments welcome.
> 
> Mando'a translations:  
> Mir'osik: dung for brains  
> Besom: ill-mannered lout  
> Chakaar: grave-robber / scumbag


	18. Negotiations

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Masquerading as Bo-Katan, Maya begins negotiations with Moff Gideon in Sundari. But as Maya and Ursa find out, Gideon isn't one to keep his word or play by the rules, so negotiations start to unravel quickly, and take a nosedive into chaos.

The  _ Gauntlet _ breaks through Mandalore’s atmosphere, and Maya’s heart constricts as the surface of the planet comes into full view. She hasn’t been back since they fled nine years ago. 

“Dank ferrik,” Ursa curses softly beside her in the co-pilot’s seat. “It’s a wasteland.”

Maya’s jaw clenches, and she fights the growing anger in her chest at the destruction of the domed city of Sundari. Since the night of the invasion, the giant hole that the Imperial forces blew in the city dome has only grown bigger. “They truly enjoy destroying things,” she snarls, as the ship passes through the hole into the city.

What was once a vibrant city, filled with bustling speeders, people, and bright lights, is now quiet and dead, populated only by some troopers patrolling the empty streets. Maya pilots the ship towards the palace at the center of the city, and she feels a fresh wave of grief at the vast emptiness of a place she once called home. The palace walls are decaying and grey, damaged by blaster fire and cannons, and covered in years of soot and dust.

“Looks like the Imps are already here,” Ursa remarks disdainfully. Parked on what was once the palace front lawn are an Imperial shuttle, and two TIE fighters. She can already see a unit of troopers patrolling the perimeter.

Maya grunts in response, and lands the  _ Gauntlet  _ gently onto the lawn opposite the Imperial ships. She turns to Ursa, who’s fiddling with her vambrace, double-checking that her whistlers and flamethrower are working. It’s also an old nervous tic. 

“You okay?” she asks quietly.

Ursa looks up slowly and looks like she’s about to just say yes, but at a hard look from Maya, she sighs. “No. I just hope we make it out alive.”

Maya grasps Ursa’s knee. “You’re going back to your family today Ursa. I’ll make sure of it. We’re going to make this work. We’re going to kill a kriffing Moff.”

“You’re enjoying this too much,” Ursa says wryly, as Maya flashes her a grin and tugs on Bo-Katan’s helmet.

“Subterfuge, spy work, what’s not to like?” Maya’s amused voice filters through the helmet’s modulator.

“It’s not spywork, Maya, it’s an assassination,” Ursa rebutts pointlessly. 

Maya shrugs carelessly, and double checks that her blasters are in her holsters. Standing in front of the cargo door, she turns to Ursa. “ _ Ib’tuur jatne tuur ash’ad kyr’amur. _ ”

Underneath her helmet, Ursa grins, she can feel the excitement and battle lust in Maya’s voice already. She feels it starting to course through her veins too. She reaches out and clasps Maya’s forearm below the elbow.  _ “Oya!” _

Maya nods at her and pushes the button, opening the cargo door. Walking down the ramp, they are greeted by four troopers. One of them, a Captain judging by his red pauldron, steps forward. “Moff Gideon awaits you in the throne room.” 

He moves to lead the way, but Maya shoulders him aside roughly. “I know my way around my own city,  _ chakaar. _ ” She ignores his growl of fury, and walks quickly ahead of him. Out of the corner of her eye, she sees Ursa shaking her head. Whether in exasperation, amusement, or a mixture of both, she doesn’t know. 

At this point, whatever nerves she felt about her plan has faded away, replaced by a firm sense of purpose as she strides down the painfully familiar corridors of the palace. 

Steeling herself, she shoves the doors of the throne room open.

Moff Gideon is standing there, black cloak billowing behind him, the Darksaber clipped to his belt. Maya’s gaze sweeps across the room, taking note of the six other troopers in the room and ten, maybe fifteen stationed by the corridors outside.

To her annoyance, Gideon’s face breaks into a gleeful expression when he sees them enter. He spreads his arms out wide, like a king welcoming his subjects. “Lady Bo-Katan, how nice of you to join us. It’s a lovely place you have here.”

Maya can already feel Ursa tensing up beside her at his patronizing tone. Maya continues walking towards him, and stops a few paces from him. “It’s a shame you destroyed it,” she mutters darkly.

Gideon’s eyes gleam. “It’s a shame that the pride of Mandalorians were, and are, the cause of their downfall. You have only yourself to blame.”

Maya’s jaw clenches, but fights to keep herself from showing signs of visible anger. This man is taunting her, and it’s already getting underneath her skin. “Did you ask me here just to insult me and my people?”

“I would never presume to do such a thing,” Gideon says with a sneering undertone that suggests anything but that. “All I want is for us to discuss what to do with your people on Concordia if you don’t give me what I want. Come, sit.” He gestures at the table and chairs laid out just below the throne.

Ursa looks at her, and Maya gives her a brisk nod. She sits down and leans back in her chair, waiting for him to speak. 

“What I’m proposing is an extremely simple exchange. You get the Darksaber if you give me either Jedi,” he says, indicating the blade clipped to his belt.

“And if I give you neither?” 

“Then I’m going to give the order for them to strafe the hell out of your little moon. Then my troopers will come down hard on them, and kill every single last man, woman, and child. And out of the wreckage I’ll take the Jedi, both of them, or whatever’s left of them.” He leans forward, clasping his hands on the table in front of him. “I’ll let you decide what’s most important, your people or those  _ jetii. _ ”

Maya sits up straighter, posture rigid. “Be careful what words you say next, Moff.  _ Mando’a _ is not your language, do not presume that you know us, just because you’re ISB,” she growls in a low voice.

Gideon rolls his eyes. “You Mandalorians are all bark and no bite. Perhaps it’ll interest you to know that I’ve in fact already ordered the first round of TIE bombers to attack your base.”

“What did you say?” Maya nearly shouts.

“As we’ve been speaking, the bombs have already been dropped.” He raises a hand in a seemingly placating gesture. “Ah, but don’t worry, it’s just the first round. Consider it a warning. The second round will come depending on your answer.”

Ursa leaps to her feet, and the troopers immediately point their blasters at her. She stills, hand on her blaster, breathing heavily. “You lack honour!” she growls.

Maya leans forward menacingly. “So these negotiations were not meant to be peaceful after all, were they?”

“They will be peaceful, when you give me what I want. Or I will wipe them out, like I did to your people.”

Something in Maya snaps.

She pulls out her blaster underneath the table, shooting at the legs of the troopers opposite, and with her other hand she seizes Gideon’s collar and slams his face onto the table. Ursa dives at the trooper nearest to her, tackling him to the ground, and chaos breaks out.

Maya stands up, upturning the entire table with Gideon still lying on it. Both blasters up and firing, she shoots her way through the room, towards Gideon. Still dazed, he tries to scramble away. Two troopers close in around him, but Maya drops them with swift headshots. She steps backwards with a yelp when the Darksaber swings towards her. She continues to step back, ducking the swings.

“Okay, I see how it is,” she mutters.

Holstering her blasters, she drops her cloak and pulls out her  _ beskad _ sheathed across her back. She takes vicious pleasure in the momentary shock on Gideon’s face when he sees it. She twirls it for emphasis. Bastard knows exactly what it is.

His face twists from shock into anger, nothing is more dangerous than a cornered animal, and he lunges at her. Her  _ beskad _ blocks his thrust easily. She wrenches her blade downwards, forcing Gideon to the left, and she bears down on him. He barely manages to get his blade up in time. She forces him backwards, each strike strong and furious. She lands a strike on his left thigh, and he stumbles. 

She laughs, a sound born from the joy of battle. Out of the corner of her eye, she sees two troopers rushing towards her in an attempt to protect Gideon. She moves like a hurricane, easily cutting them down, filled with a bloodlust she has not felt in a long time. 

She hears Gideon shouting desperately at troopers to kill her. She turns back to him, and to her frustration, he’s now put at least five troopers in between them. 

He looks furious, but also afraid. Based on the fighting style she displayed, Maya knows that he knows that she isn’t who she claims she is. “You’re not Bo-Katan, are you?” he hisses.

Maya laughs. “You’ve caught on! Congratulations, Moff!” 

Gideon’s face contorts in rage, and Maya’s glee grows. She points her  _ beskad _ at him, issuing a clear challenge. “Are you too afraid to meet a simple Protector in single combat?”

His jaw twitches, as he considers the challenge, but his gaze flicks down to his bleeding leg, and he thinks twice. He points at her. “Kill her! Then I’ll bring your head to Bo-Katan.”

The troopers raise their blasters and start firing. She activates the shield on her left vambrace to block the shots, and rushes them. Reaching the first trooper, she smashes the shield against his chest, knocking him to the side. She brings her  _ beskad  _ down on the next trooper, carving his helmet and head open. With a horrible squelch, she pulls it free and buries it in the chest of the next one, then the next. Advancing towards Gideon, her blade sings through the air, a deadly song of blood and death.

She cuts down the last trooper with a smooth strike, and to her vicious glee, there’s no one else standing between her and Gideon, who now looks petrified. She leaps towards him, bringing the  _ beskad  _ down, and the Darksaber crackles as the two blades meet. She roars at him, channelling her anger and hatred as she presses the  _ beskad _ down slowly. Her ferocious grin broadens as her  _ beskad _ pushes the Darksaber closer and closer to Gideon’s face, which twists into dismay.

She’s close to victory, she can smell it, when she hears a pained shout behind her. 

_ Ursa. _ She’d been so consumed with killing Gideon that she had left her friend to deal with the other troopers. She elbows him in the face, and he grunts, falling backwards onto his backside. She whirls around, searching desperately for her friend. 

Ursa is wrestling on the floor with a trooper, who seemingly has the upper hand. Without thinking twice, she hurls her  _ beskad _ towards the trooper. He slumps over Ursa with the blade buried in his neck. With a grunt, Ursa pushes him off her. She sits up and looks to Maya, and her grin of gratitude turns into one of horror.

Maya hears the crackle of the Darksaber swish through the air, and a paralyzing streak of fire burns across the side of her torso unprotected by beskar. 

A strangled noise escapes her lips as blinding pain spreads through her body. Her legs give way and she falls to her knees. She turns her head and sees Gideon bringing the Darksaber around again with a wild expression on his face. She brings up her arm to block it with her vambrace. Mustering up her energy, she drives her shoulder into his injured leg, and he screams in agony, falling backward. 

Powered by sheer adrenaline, she pins him down and brings her elbow down on his wound. Ignoring her own burning pain, she unsheathes her  _ kal _ and brings it down onto his wrist.

A bloodcurdling scream escapes his lips when she severs his hand. The Darksaber clatters to the ground. She brings up the  _ kal _ for the final blow, but a trooper empties a blaster into her helmet. The HUD explodes in static, going haywire, and she crashes backward from the impact.

Head ringing, dazed, she finds herself unable to move as the troopers pick up Gideon and hurry out. A trooper levels his blaster at her, presumably to finish her off, but with a  _ bang _ , his head snaps back. 

Maya fumbles with her helmet, managing to tug it off. She turns her head tiredly to see Ursa staggering towards her, blaster raised. 

They're alone, the surviving troopers have taken Gideon and fled. 

Ursa drops to a knee next to her and pulls off her helmet with a sigh. She stares in a morbid daze at the Darksaber lying on the ground, still clutched in Gideon's severed hand. “What a karking mess," she quips.

With a groan, Maya pushes herself to a sitting position, gritting her teeth against the agony from the wound on her right. She looks down at herself. Blood has soaked through her jumpsuit from the Darksaber. Absentmindedly, she wonders why the wound wasn’t cauterized upon impact, but she supposes she must have torn it open again. Well fuck. 

She turns to look at Ursa. “You okay?

Ursa gives her a scathing look. “I’ve got some kriffed up ribs, but I’ll live. You don’t look good.” 

Both women turn around when they hear the rumble of ships taking off. Ursa stands up, looking out the window. “Come on, we can’t let them get away, can you stand up?” 

Maya nods brusquely, and manages to push herself halfway up the wall before a wave of agony pulses up her torso and through her body, forcing her back onto her knees. She's so lost in her own swirling pain that she doesn't notice Ursa kneeling beside her.

Ursa brushes Maya's sweaty hair from her forehead gently. "Come on,  _ alor'ad, _ we need to finish the job."

"I know," Maya croaks. She wants to curl up, the pain is numbing, mind-consuming. "I’m trying," she grits out between her teeth, hating this feeling of utter helplessness.

Ursa grips her chin and forces her to look at her. The Countess' eyes are bright and fierce. "Come on. Think of Koska, the kid is never going to stop fighting in wars if we don't put an end to this. Think of Satine and your promise to her. Bo needs us.”

“I know, I know,” Maya gasps. 

Her hand fumbles for her pouch, and Ursa catches it. "I'll get it." She opens the pouch and pulls out the only two items in it. “Stim shots?” she nearly shouts incredulously, and Maya flinches at the volume.

"All safe, regular stuff from the medics," Maya says impatiently. "Give it to me."

Ursa withholds the syringes, now looking angry. “You told Bo you swore off them,” she admonishes her quietly.

“And I did,” Maya grits out, her hand reaching weakly for them.

“Then what the hell are these?” Ursa’s voice rises in pitch.

“I brought them, just in case!” Maya is beginning to sound desperate. “Please, just give it to me. It’s just a one-off, okay? We need to get the job done.”

Against her better judgement, Ursa relents, she can’t finish the job alone. She pulls off the cap. “Come on, I’ll help you.” She brushes Maya's braid aside and sticks it into her neck. Maya flinches but doesn't make a noise. Ursa pulls it out and chucks it to the floor. Ignoring Maya’s yelp of pain, she hauls Maya to her feet roughly, and tucks the remaining syringe back into Maya’s pouch. “Just so we’re clear, I don’t approve. There’s a reason you gave this up.”

Maya averts her gaze. “It’s a one-off,” she repeats. “Like you said, Bo needs us.”

Ursa looks unconvinced, but decides to let it go for now, they have more important things to take care of. She helps Maya back towards their ship, which is miraculously undamaged. 

"They were dumb enough to leave it here," Maya rasps out, delighted. With the stims kicking in, she huffs a sigh of relief and all but collapses into the pilot's seat, flicking the controls. The ship powers up and lifts up, shooting through the hole in the dome back towards Concordia. 

Ursa switches on the radio. "This is the _ Gauntlet, _ is anyone reading this? We are in pursuit of Moff Gideon!"

The radio crackles to life immediately. "Ursa! Maya! You idiots!" Bo-Katan shouts in relief. "We're still holding them back for now, they dropped a round of bombs. I suppose negotiations didn't go well?"

"He told us he dropped the bombs halfway through negotiations. We fought, but he got away. We're in pursuit."

"Negative. Come back -"

"No,” Ursa interrupts her. “Bo, we can end this. Maya already cut off his hand, it’s time to take his head next."

Bo-Katan is silent for a moment, thinking. “You have him in your sights?”

Ursa peers at the radar. “He’s on a trajectory towards the cruiser. We’re going to try to cut him off, we’re gaining on them.”

“I made some modifications a few weeks ago.” Maya turns to Ursa with a mischievous grin. “We can push the hell out of this baby.”

Ursa rolls her eyes. “I just remembered why I hated flying with you,” she grumbles.

Maya laughs. “Just like old times.”

“Alright Bo, we’ll see you soon!” Ursa shouts, and switches off the radio, cutting off Bo-Katan’s yell of protest. Maya punches the throttle, flicks a switch, and Ursa bites back a yell as she’s thrown back against her seat when the  _ Gauntlet’s _ speed doubles, shooting towards Gideon’s shuttle.

“Contact in sixty seconds!” Maya shouts. “Ursa, you ready?”

“You know it!” Ursa grins viciously. The moment that shuttle is in her sights, she pulls the trigger. With their element of surprise, she manages to clip the wing of the shuttle, and it careens to the left, before the pilot manages to steady the ship again and swing out of the way of her other shots.

“We’ve got incoming!” Maya yells. TIE fighters have been mobilized, and are firing at them. “Hold on!”

Maya banks the  _ Gauntlet _ hard to the right, and the closest TIE fighter shoots past them. Ursa fires at the next incoming TIE fighter, and it explodes. She lets loose a victorious whoop, and feels the ship flip forward. Hanging upside down in her seat, Ursa finds the returning TIE fighter in her sights and fires. “Good shot!” Maya exclaims, and flips the ship back again. Her victory is short-lived however.  _ “Harr’chak!” _

Another two TIE fighters are shooting towards them, while three have formed an escort for Gideon’s shuttle towards the Imperial Cruiser.

“Ursa, hold on!”

“What - “

Ursa’s words are lost in a scream as Maya pulls the  _ Gauntlet _ directly upwards. After a moment, she cuts the engine and flips the ship down to face the onrushing TIE fighters. She guns the engines again. “Ursa, get them!” With the speed of the  _ Gauntlet _ , the TIE fighters are unable to scramble out of the way in time, and Ursa blows them to pieces. Swinging the Gauntlet back, Maya gives chase to the shuttle, and Ursa continues firing. 

“It’s working! We’re pushing them back towards Concordia!” Ursa yells.

Maya wrestles with the controls, evading the blaster cannons from the remaining TIE fighters. Ursa takes out one, and the other swerves well out of the way, disappearing out of sight.

“Where’d it go?” Ursa shouts, checking the radar, then craning her neck around.

“It’s falling back, it’s just us and Gideon now!” Maya relentlessly drives the Imperial shuttle towards the atmosphere of Concordia, always blocking its escape route back towards the Cruiser. She’s successfully pushed the shuttle past the atmosphere and the clouds, and they’re now chasing the shuttle over the skies of the base.

An explosion rocks the bottom of the ship. 

“We’ve lost our gun!” Ursa slams her hand onto the console in frustration.

String after string of profanity flows from Maya’s lips as she banks the  _ Gauntlet _ right and left, evading the TIE fighter’s shots. “I can’t shake him off, he’s good,” Maya growls, as the  _ Gauntlet  _ bobs and weaves, but is unable to shake off the TIE fighter.

“He’s getting away,” Ursa says warningly, pointing at the shuttle, now pulling away. She turns to Maya, a ferocious look on her face. “There’s only one thing to do,  _ ner vod .” _

Maya shakes her head slowly, also coming to the conclusion that they have only one option left. She sighs.

“Hold on to something tight!” She pushes the throttle forward to full speed, in spite of the gunfire spitting at them from behind and in front, and rams the  _ Gauntlet _ straight into the shuttle.

The two ships collide with a mighty  _ boom _ and screeching of metal.

Like its namesake, the ship’s wings have trapped the shuttle, and both ships hurtle towards the ground, picking up speed and heat as they go.

“One thousand feet!” Ursa yells in warning. “We have to disengage!”

Maya grabs the controls and tries to pull the ship upright, to disentangle herself from the shuttle. The metal of both ships groan loudly. With a final yank, she pulls the nose of the  _ Gauntlet  _ free, while also yanking off the shuttle’s left wing with it.

“Oh fuck me,” Maya whispers, knowing it’s still too late. “Brace for impact!” she shouts, as the  _ Gauntlet _ and shuttle crash into the ground in fiery balls of flame.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Writing a space battle is hard man. I'm also not sure that I did the duel between Moff Gideon & Maya justice, but I just wanted it to end with Gideon losing a hand, and said dismembered hand still holding the Darksaber.
> 
> I'll also put forward my own position that the concept of the Darksaber has to be won in combat (and cannot be yielded) introduced in the Mandalorian is just incredibly frustrating. My hope is they do a good job of explaining it in Season 3, taking the Rebels episode where Sabine handed Bo-Katan the Darksaber into context.
> 
> Mando'a translations:  
> Ib’tuur jatne tuur ash’ad kyr’amur: today is a good today for someone else to die  
> alor'ad: captain


	19. No Victory Without Sacrifice

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After causing the Gauntlet and the Imperial shuttle to crash onto Concordia, it's now a game of cat and mouse - for Maya and Bo-Katan to find Gideon, and for the Imperial forces to find the Jedi. Who will find their prey first?

Maya awakens to sweltering heat and a burning sensation. To her horror, the ship's cockpit is on fire, flames licking across the controls panel, and smoke has all but obscured her vision. She looks to the left, wincing when her neck muscles strain with the exertion, to see the outline of Ursa, slumped forward against the controls. 

She reaches to unfasten her seat belt, and groans when she feels a sharp pain ripple down from her left shoulder. “The fuck?” She looks down to see a piece of shrapnel buried deep in her shoulder. 

“Fuck, fuck, fuck,” she growls, trying to calm her breathing down. She wraps her hand around the shrapnel, ignoring the metal cutting into her skin through her glove, takes a deep breath, and yanks it out.

She lets out a howl of pain when the metal tears through her flesh on the way out, but it’s out. She flings it to the ground in disgust, and drops her head back against the seat, trying to control her breathing and the pain.

_Ursa. Fire._

She grits her teeth, pushing herself to her feet, and stumbles over to her friend, shaking her, but she’s out cold. She cuts Ursa’s seatbelt and tries to lift her out, but Ursa’s right leg is trapped under the crushed metal of the controls panel.

 _“Osik!”_ she growls in frustration. She rams her uninjured shoulder against the metal, biting back a yelp of pain when the impact jostles her injuries. 

It works however, and the dent she made in the metal is enough to tug Ursa’s leg free. She winces when she sees the odd angle of her ankle, definitely broken. “Come on, old friend,” she mutters as she lifts Ursa up and staggers down the cargo ramp, and behind the tree line.

She deposits Ursa gently on the ground, propping her up against a tree, and keeps low, crawling on the ground, back towards the crashed ships. Two troopers exit the crashed Imperial shuttle, supporting Moff Gideon between them, no doubt in an attempt to rendezvous with their other forces. 

She tries to stand up, but doubles over when another wave of pain courses through her body. Her initial shot of stims is wearing off. She pulls out the last syringe in her pouch and stares down at it, torn internally. Another lancing pain shoots up her left side, and she drops back to a knee with a pained grunt, blinking back hot tears of frustration.

_Fuck it._

Filled with self-loathing, she uncaps the syringe and jabs it into her neck, emptying the contents. She takes a deep breath, and waits for it to kick in.The familiar sensation of numbness spreads throughout her body again, and she stands up. She levels her blaster and swings her _beskad_ to test her mobility. She can barely feel the pain. She smiles to herself in grim satisfaction. Back in business.

She taps on her commlink. “It’s Maya. I need a medic for Ursa Wren at the edge of the woods at the north side of the base at the crash site of the _Gauntlet_ and an Imperial shuttle. Make it quick.” 

It takes a moment before someone replies in the affirmative, and with one last look at Ursa, Maya turns her attention back towards the fight.

* * *

Din, Koska, and Axe are pinned down in a corridor leading from the armoury to the hangar bay. Axe turns to Din. “We have to get you and Grogu out of here, we’re going to be overrun.”

“I can’t just leave you all behind!” Din says incredulously.

Axe grabs his shoulder. “If Gideon is going to try to wipe us out, we can at least deprive him of the little one. We’ll cover you, you must go, now, before they blow up all the ships!” Koska nods her assent.

“I’ll come back for you,” Din says hoarsely, suddenly finding his throat tightening with emotion. 

Axe squeezes his shoulder, then turns to Koska. “On the count of three?”

She rolls her shoulders, loosening them up, and raises her blaster. “One, two, three!” 

Both of them burst out from behind the corridor, a well-oiled fighting machine taking on the onrushing troopers. 

“Go, Din, Go!” Axe bellows over his shoulder, and with one last look at the two Mandalorians, Din takes off running towards the hangar bay, Grogu tucked by his side.

He’s almost at the Razor Crest when the world around him explodes, and he finds himself flung through the air in the wake of the concussive blast. He blacks out upon impact.

After a few moments, he doesn't know how long, he comes to with a groan. He vaguely hears someone shouting _“he’s alive!”_ and then someone is kicking him onto his back.

“Found the package!” someone calls out, and to his dismay, he feels the bag around his shoulders cut loose. There is a whine and a crying noise, and someone scrabbling at his armour. 

“Just take the damn package and shut him up!”

“What about him?”

“Leave him. We need to go now!”

Din turns his head, and amidst his blurry vision and his frizzing HUD, all he sees is the retreating backs of trooper armour. He reaches out limply with a grunt. "Grogu?"

There’s no response. He squeezes his eyes, blinking back the tears that well up. He can’t fail the kid, he’s got to get him back. He tugs off his helmet, the frizzing display making him dizzy. With a pained groan, he rolls himself onto his knees, his head pressed to the cold floor to fight off a sudden wave of nausea. He lifts his head up when he hears someone shouting his name, and his hand reaches for the blaster at his side.

“Din! Force’s sake, don’t shoot! It’s me, Ahsoka!”

He stares dumbly at Ahsoka as she drops to a knee next to him. She grasps his chin gently, turning his head to look at the deep gash in his forehead. “Are you alright?” she asks, brows knitted in concern.

“They took the kid, we need to get him back,” Din gasps out. “Help me up.”

She grabs him by the arms and hauls him up easily. She bends down to pick up his helmet and spear from the floor and offers them back to him. He takes them both, but places the helmet back on the ground. At her curious look, he explains with a shrug, “the display is broken, it’s useless right now.”

“Well, it’s nice to finally see your face, Din. But are you sure you’re alright?”

Din huffs a sigh. “I’m certain I’ll feel the effects later, but right now, I’m good.”

Ahsoka claps him on the shoulder. “Then let’s get him back.”

* * *

The troopers don’t notice Maya’s swift pursuit of them until it’s too late. She levels her blasters at them and two of them drop instantly. Gideon is now on the ground with no one to help him. She slows down, and that sinking feeling in her stomach returns when she sees a gloating look of glee spread across his face. What now?

A squad of troopers appear behind her, and she turns her head slightly to hear them fan around her. She growls in frustration, keeping one blaster trained on Gideon, and the other one roving between the troopers.

"Sir, we've got the package,” the Clone Captain with the orange pauldron says.

Maya’s gaze snaps to him, and it’s only then that she sees the package in his arms. It’s Grogu. He looks distraught, unable to use his powers due to the inhibitor cuffs slapped on his wrists. “You _shabuir,_ ” she growls, turning her blaster on him. “Let him go, he’s just a kid.”

Two troopers move to Gideon’s side, helping him up, and shielding him from her. He laughs, a condescending, spiteful noise. “You have a choice to make, me or him.”

Before Maya has a chance to respond, a trooper hurls a grenade at her. _“Osik!”_ she yells, throwing herself to the ground. The grenade explodes, and the concussive impact knocks her onto her back. Fighting the ringing in her head, she scrambles to her knees. The troopers have split in two groups, fleeing through the base. Two choices, but there’s only one right one: get the kid. With a pained wheeze, she pushes herself to her feet and staggers towards the group she saw with Grogu.

“Thank fuck,” she mutters as the troopers come into her line of sight. Their lack of familiarity around the winding corridors of the base has slowed them down significantly. She switches out the infra-red on her helmet and rolls a smoke grenade towards them. 

_Beskad_ in her right hand and blaster in her left, she breaks upon the back of their column like lightning. She fires point blank into the back of the nearest trooper, blocks a downward swing of a vibro-blade from a trooper, and runs him through with her blade. She cleaves her way through the column, and finally sees Grogu.

But the closer she gets, the more panicked the Clone Captain gets. “Take her down! Take her down!”

Maya is as desperate to get to Grogu as the Captain is desperate to keep her away from his prize. She fights like a crazed _jai’galaar_ , knowing that the stims are going to wear off soon and she won’t last much longer. It needs to end _now._

With the Captain finally in sight, she lunges at him, when a trooper slams the butt of his rifle into the open wound in her side. There is a significant delay before the pain registers, and the agony spreads. The blaster clatters to the ground from her useless left arm, and she stumbles to a knee for a moment. 

A trooper bears down on her, and she manages to block his vibro-blade with her _beskad_ . With a grunt, she sweeps his vibro-blade aside, and lunges up, burying her blade in his throat. She staggers to her feet with an agonized growl, and manages to bring down another trooper before she jerks backward with the impact of a shot to her thigh. She collapses to her knees, body wracked in agony. The _beskad_ falls uselessly from her limp hand. Black spots are beginning to dot her vision, she can't move, can't do anything.

She looks up in despair at Grogu, who’s still held in the trooper’s arms, and he returns her gaze with a forlorn expression. _I’m so sorry kid._

The Clone Captain hands Grogu off to the trooper next to him, and walks forward. He stops right in front of her. “The kid’s going to watch you die,” he sneers.

Maya doesn't have energy to respond, her mouth is dry, every breath is shallow and shuddering.

He levels his blaster at her head. “Goodbye - “

He doesn't get to finish her sentence as a silver blur with a roaring jetpack crashes into him. The two combatants roll on the ground, wrestling for control. The trooper screams, the sound turning into a gurgle at the sound of a blade getting plunged into his flesh. Around her, there’s more screaming, accompanied by the swish and crackle of lightsabers.

Maya feels someone gently lowering her to the ground. A strangled noise of agony escapes her lips at the movement. She blinks through her blurry vision. “Din?” she croaks, confused at seeing the man without his helmet.

Is that what he looked like? Her muddled mind wonders.

Din drops to his knees next to her, his brown eyes looking horrified. “Don't talk, conserve your energy -" 

“Where’s the little one?” Maya rasps out.

“He’s here, I’ve got him,” Ahsoka appears by Din’s side, lightsaber in hand, and Grogu cradled in her other arm. The little one reaches for her, eyes wide in concern.

“Gideon.” Maya’s chest is heaving now from the exertion of speaking. “Where is he?”

Ahsoka drops down to a crouch next to her. “Bo went after him. We split up.” She taps her commlink, “Bo, come in. We have Grogu, I repeat, we have Grogu.”

“That’s good! But fuck! We’re pinned down, we can’t get to Gideon,” Bo-Katan’s voice crackles over the comms. “But we can’t let him leave, they’ll strafe the hell out of this place once he leaves.”

“Ahsoka, go help her.” 

The former Jedi’s eyes narrow at Maya. “I’m not leaving you here.”

“I’ll be fine, Soka, I can hold on a little longer.” She turns her tired gaze to Din. “And you, take Grogu somewhere safe.”

Din shakes his head, looking incensed. “I’m not leaving you here to bleed out. We’ll go together - “

“I’m only going to slow you down,” Maya says in a reedy voice, looking utterly drained. “Go, take care of the kid. I’ll be fine here.”

“Maya - “

She grabs his arm, squeezing it tightly. “Remember what I told you, you’re a father now, he must be your first priority, always.”

“You’ve got a kid of your own, Maya,” Din chides her softly.

Maya’s grip on his arm slackens, and she gives him a small, sad smile, almost amused that he thought she needed to be reminded. “No victory without sacrifice, _ner vod.”_

Din looks anguished, but he scoops up Grogu and points a finger at her. “You better stay alive,” he says, before wrenching himself away.

Maya looks at Ahsoka, eyes boring into her. “Go.” 

Ahsoka leans forward to press her lips against Maya’s hairline, and turns away, fleeing swiftly down the corridor. But before she leaves the hangar bay, she turns around for one last look at Maya.

She’s picked up her blaster again, and laid it on her lap.

* * *

Bo-Katan keeps her foot pressed down on Gideon’s chest, blaster levelled at his head. He stares up at her with hate burning in his eyes, and she returns the death stare.

Seeing their leader down and defeated, troopers around them are either dropping their weapons in surrender, or fleeing towards their ships to escape. Bo-Katan has already given orders to Fenn and his soldiers to hunt the remaining troopers down, to prevent them from fleeing and returning eventually. Ahsoka joins her, her lightsaber dangerously close to Gideon’s face. She can’t help a little snide grin that breaks across her face when he flinches.

Bo-Katan removes her foot from his chest, and he’s immediately hauled to his feet roughly by two soldiers. “Take him to the brig, I want him under heavy guard at all times.”

“Yes ma’am.”

Bo-Katan’s eyes follow Gideon carefully as he’s hauled away. When he’s finally out of sight, she turns back to Ahsoka, relief flooding in her body when her initial sweep of Ahsoka’s form yields no injuries. _“Ka’ra,_ I’m glad you’re alright,” she whispers, tugging Ahsoka into a tight hug. But Ahsoka pulls back quickly after a short while, and the guilty look on her face sends a trill of alarm through Bo-Katan. “Ahsoka, what’s wrong?”

“It’s Maya.”

From then on, Bo-Katan completely forgets about Gideon, nothing else matters but finding her friend. She feels panic bubbling up in her chest, constricting her throat as she tries to keep up with Ahsoka’s long gait through the maze of corridors throughout the base.

Rounding the corner to the west door of the hangar bay, Bo-Katan sees Maya, and sprints towards her, skidding to her knees next to her body, slumped against the wall.

Maya opens her eyes. “Thank fuck you’re alright,” she says in a strained voice.

A strangled little laugh escapes Bo-Katan’s lips. “Always the eloquent one, aren’t you?” She reaches out to remove Maya’s blood-soaked pauldron, trying to see the damage, when Maya grabs her hand, stopping it. Bo-Katan’s gaze flits up to Maya’s wide-eyed, panicked ones.

“You found Ursa yet?” she asks.

“Yeah buddy,” Ahsoka chimes in, patting her on the knee gently. “The medics found her.”

“Oh, good,” Maya breathes, and her eyes flutter closed as she leans back against the wall. “Good.”

Bo-Katan exchanges a worried look with Ahsoka, and pats Maya gently on the cheek. “C’mon, stay with me, don’t drift off.”

Maya’s eyes flutter open again, “I’m here, still here, just resting.”

Bo-Katan’s winces when she removes the pauldron and sees the open wound in her shoulder, pouring blood. She whispers to Ahsoka to help hold Maya up while she removes the chestplate. There’s an awful squelch when she pulls the backplate and chestplate over Maya’s head. Bo-Katan’s breath catches in her throat when she sees the damage. The dark jumpsuit is soaked in crimson red. She bites back the bile that rises in her throat. "Just hang on, we’re going to get you to the med-bay.”

Ahsoka drops to her knees and presses a rolled up ball of fabric against the hole in Maya’s shoulder. Maya makes a keening noise of pain, and though it breaks Ahsoka’s heart to hear the sound, she persists, “I’m sorry, I have to stop the bleeding, it looks arterial, I don’t even know how you were fighting with this.”

Bo-Katan leans closer to Maya, and looks at her eyes, the dilated pupils. “She’s flying high on stims, that’s how,” she says with clipped fury. Maya averts her gaze, shame burning on her pale cheeks. Ahsoka looks between the two of them, not understanding.

Wrinkling her nose, and blinking furiously, Bo-Katan turns away and taps on her commlink. “Tristan, how’s med-bay looking?”

His voice comes back shaking with cold rage. “Bastards blew it up! It was among the first things they targeted. I’ve ordered them to salvage as much as they can, but I don’t think it’ll be that much.”

Bo-Katan pinches the bridge of her nose. “Tristan, it’s Maya. She hasn’t got long.”

After a long moment of silence and a soft curse, Tristan replies, “the engineers need another couple of hours to get two bacta tanks operational, and we’re salvaging the bacta supplies that we still have. I’ll get someone to deliver it to you as soon as we find them.”

Bo-Katan gives him the location and turns back to Maya, pressing another ball of fabric to the wound in her torso. Amidst their painful ministrations, Maya had passed out.

_“Ori’vod!”_

They turn to see Koska sprinting towards them, helmet-less, braids askew, eyes wild. “Here, I have the bacta that Tristan found,” she pants. As Ahsoka cuts away the fabric around Maya’s wounds, Koska’s eyes roam all over Maya’s body, cataloguing the damage. Her face pinches in a mixture of worry and horror.

Ahsoka gently places a few bacta patches over the gaping wound in her torso, and after a few moments, the relief that the bacta brings jolts Maya back to her senses. She lifts her head up. "Koska?" she murmurs, sounding uncertain.

Koska scrambles closer. “I’m right here.”

Maya smiles at her. _“Ori’jate, ad’ika,”_ she whispers, patting her cheek. She takes a few deep breaths, the noise wheezing and painful to hear. She looks at Bo-Katan, and her hand fumbles for the item that she clipped to her belt.

Bo-Katan’s gaze follows it, and her mouth falls open in surprise. “Maya,” she says in a hushed voice.

With a pained grunt, Maya finally manages to unclip the Darksaber, and she looks straight into Bo-Katan’s eyes, and holds the hilt out in her shaking hand.

“Mand’alor. This belongs to you,” she says, voice trembling.

Bo-Katan stares at the Darksaber, then her gaze moves up to Maya, sweat pouring down her brow from the exertion of holding up the heavy blade. She swallows thickly, her throat constricted with emotion. “You can’t just give this to me.”

A small smile quirks up on the corner of Maya’s lips. “Yes, I can.”

Bo-Katan’s frowns, and she can’t help but feel that Maya’s eyes piece right into her soul, seeing and understanding all her fears and insecurities.

“Is it not within the right of any _mando’ad_ to win the Darksaber for their Mand’alor?” Maya whispers. “I reclaimed it for you from that usurper Gideon.”

With a sigh, Bo-Katan shuffles closer, and her hand wraps around the heavy hilt of the Darksaber, and Maya’s tired smile broadens, and her hand falls away.

“I will not forget this,” Bo-Katan manages to choke out, tears welling.

Maya nods at her slowly, tiredly, and then her gaze turns to Koska, who’s staring at her wide-eyed. Her trembling hand reaches into an inner pocket of her jumpsuit, pulls something small out, and presses it into Koska's palm. “Take it.”

Koska immediately starts shaking her head fervently, her hand refusing to close around the holodisc. “No no, don’t talk like that. You’re going to be okay.”

 _“K’uur, ret’lini,”_ Maya whispers, closing Koska’s hand over it.

Koska looks devastated. “You can't leave. You fight. You stay with me. You don’t get to give up,” she says hoarsely, fiercely. “You taught me never to give up, remember that?”

Ahsoka looks away, feeling like she’s intruding on an extremely personal moment.

Maya keeps her gaze fixed on Koska, the pain on her face smooths into something more tender. She reaches for Koska’s cheek, and Koska shuffles forward even closer, hand tightly clenched around the holodisc, and rests her forehead against Maya’s. "Listen to me carefully, Koska Reeves. _Ni kar’tayl gai sa’ad."_

Koska stiffens in surprise, pulling back slightly, eyes scanning Maya’s face. Affection and peace now radiate from Maya’s smile, the special one she reserves for Koska. _“Ni kar’tayl gar darasuum, ad’ika_.”

A strangled sob breaks loose from Koska’s throat. “No, please, no!”

Maya’s hand slips from Koska’s cheek, her breathing stutters, and then no more. 

Koska fumbles to find a pulse in her throat. Nothing. She reels back, looking at Maya’s unseeing, open eyes.

She’s gone.

Bo-Katan stares at her best friend, unbelieving.

"No, no, no, no, no." Koska pulls Maya’s limp body into her arms, cradling it, and her wail of anguish tears at Ahsoka’s heart. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've always wondered how a foundling is officially considered a foundling. After Din was picked up by his Children of the Watch saviours, did they just simply raise him, what was the process? In this case, I'm just going on a limb to say that while Koska was taken in by Maya as a foundling, and referred to as a Reeves, she was never officially adopted as such, I mean, it was a time of war, who had time for these administrative things?
> 
> Also oops, Maya is coming across as a bit of an ex-addict here. But honestly it doesn't feel out of the realm of possibilities for a career soldier (esp. at that age) to be relying on stimulants/painkillers to fight on. And I gave her a bit of a Boromir-esque scene here for dear Grogu. We all know how that ended... Poor Koska.
> 
> Mando'a translation:  
> Jai'galaar: shriek hawk  
> Ret'lini: just in case  
> Ni kar'tayl gai sa'ad: I know you as my child  
> Ni kar'tayl gar darasuum: I love you


	20. Heart of the Jedi

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ahsoka isn't going to lose another friend, and she's going to do whatever it takes to save Maya, but some things are beyond her control.

Unwilling, unable to believe it, Ahsoka closes her eyes, and focuses on reaching out to Maya through the Force, pushing past the tumultuous waves of pain and grief around her.

There it is.

A very faint thrum, as though Maya’s soul was unwilling to leave this physical plane, but was far too weak to remain tethered. 

Ahsoka opens her eyes and scrambles to the fallen Mandalorian’s side, shouldering Bo-Katan out of the way. Ignoring Bo-Katan’s exclamations of confusion, and Koska’s noise of surprise and reflexive tightening of arms around Maya’s body, Ahsoka lays her hand over Maya’s forehead, takes a deep breath, and focuses.

She feels the energy flowing from her body through her hand to Maya, and smiles to herself when she feels the woman’s soul gain some strength, managing to hold on just a while longer. 

_ This could work. _

Ahsoka moves her hands to hover over the wound in Maya’s shoulder, and takes a deep breath, then exhaling slowly. She’s about to enter into a meditative state when someone slaps her hands away. It breaks her concentration and the bond is severed.

She opens her eyes angrily to see that Bo-Katan has grabbed a hold of her hands. “Ahsoka, no. I’ve seen it before. It’s a direct line from you to her. It could kill you.”

“I can save her,” Ahsoka insists firmly. 

Koska’s red and puffy eyes swivel between the two of them in confusion. “Wait, what’s going on?”

Bo-Katan ignores her for now, instead tightening her grip on Ahsoka’s hands, afraid and desperate. “As much as I want to save her, I will not lose the both of you!”

“And you won’t! You’re not going to lose either of us.”

“You don’t know that.” Bo-Katan’s voice is small and pained. “These wounds are more severe than the last one I saw you heal.”

“I know I can heal her. I can feel it.” She half-expects Bo-Katan to roll her eyes to high heaven when she says it, but maybe it’s the decades that Bo-Katan has spent with her, that though she does not understand all things Force-related, she accepts what Ahsoka says.

“If it looks bad for you, I’m pulling you out,” Bo-Katan warns her. Ahsoka gives her a small smile, and turns back to Maya. She holds out her hand over the shoulder wound, closes her eyes and focuses, entering the meditative state once again.

Koska and Bo-Katan lean closer, and Bo-Katan swears softly when she sees the flesh knitting itself back together.

_ “Ka’ra, _ it’s working,” Koska gasps.

The wound is almost healed when Ahsoka suddenly sways and collapses to the side. Bo-Katan catches her, lowering her into her lap. “Ahsoka!”. 

After a moment, Ahsoka’s eyes flutter open, her body feels like lead. She can barely lift her arms. Breathing heavily, she shakes her head, biting back a howl of frustration. “I can’t - I don’t have energy for the other one.” 

Koska looks over at Maya, where the wound in her torso is still gushing blood, soaking through the ball of fabric they had pushed against it.

“Let me try again.” She tries to break free of Bo-Katan’s grip, but the other woman tightens her grip on her shoulders, keeping her in place.

“No, I can’t let you do that.”

Ahsoka musters up her energy and knocks Bo-Katan out of her way. Closing her eyes, she reaches out her hand again, but this time Bo-Katan tackles her to the ground. Ahsoka is tired and her movements sluggish. Bo-Katan manages to pin her down easily. 

“Ahsoka, PLEASE!”

She flinches when she feels wet droplets splashing onto her face. To Ahsoka’s surprise, tears are streaming down Bo-Katan’s face. 

“Please, I won’t lose you both,” her voice cracks. Ahsoka tries to sit up, and this time, Bo-Katan helps her. “I can’t, alright? I just can’t.”

Ahsoka is about to argue when Koska lays a heavy hand on her knee. “Listen to her, Ahsoka, please. You’ve done enough to buy her some time until they fix the bacta tanks. She’s strong, and she’s got a fighting chance now, thanks to you.”

* * *

Bo-Katan watches Maya sleep in the tank, arms across her chest, brow furrowed. Koska is asleep in a chair in front of the tank, neck bent in a position that will surely hurt once she wakes up. She had pleaded with Bo-Katan to wake her up if she fell asleep, but Bo-Katan hadn’t got the heart to wake her up. The younger woman had been full of manic energy since the morning, had gone through the emotional rollercoaster of losing her mentor and big sister, getting her back, and all without an opportunity to slow down and rest. 

She hears soft footsteps as Ahsoka comes up close behind her. The tension bleeds out of her body, as Ahsoka rests her chin on her shoulder, wrapping her arms around her waist.

“How is she?” Ahsoka whispers, and her breath tickles Bo-Katan’s ear. She leans deeper into Ahsoka.

“Doctors are worried that she’ll have mobility problems. They had to remove her left kidney. The Darksaber may have caused other permanent damage, but we won’t know for a while,” Bo-Katan’s murmurs, her eyes darkening with anger. 

Ahsoka frowns, aghast. “They had to remove her kidney?! What - wouldn’t the damage be like any other caused by a lightsaber? Bacta should fix it, no?”

“Yes, but she ignored the wound and continued to fight. The doctors suspect that's the cause of her problems.”

Ahsoka understands now. “The stim shot.”

“Stim  _ shots _ , two of them,” Bo-Katan corrects her hollowly. “I can’t believe she brought them along.”

“What do you mean?”

“She gave them up years ago, or at least that’s what she told me. I don’t understand why she brought them along, why tempt herself by having them close at hand?”

“I’ve never heard of stim shots, are they a pain suppressant?” Ahsoka asks, curious. 

“There are different types, the standard issue ones are used as pain suppressants, and battle stims, the black market stuff, make the user terrifying, unstoppable.”

“And which were the ones that Maya used?” Ahsoka asks carefully.

“She used the standard issue ones.” Ahsoka hums in relief, but Bo-Katan turns around, breaking free of Ahsoka’s embrace, and starts to pace up and down the room in frustration, feeling the need to explain exactly what ticked her off.

“They should be used only in emergencies. Granted, this was an emergency, but Maya has had problems with them in the past, relied on them more often than she should’ve. She always wanted to make sure she was able to fight, to protect  _ me _ ,” she says bitterly. “We had a row about it eight years ago, when she nearly got killed because she was flying so high on stims that she didn’t pay attention to her wound and nearly bled out in front of me. Sounds familiar, doesn't it? She nearly lost her left lung that day, if the doctor’s hadn’t fixed her in time. And now she's lost a kidney.” 

Bo-Katan shudders at the memory, and rubs a tired hand over her temples. “After that she promised to stop using them, and I think she stayed clean, at least until today.”

Ahsoka nestles her head against Bo-Katan’s neck. “Eight years is a long time. Don’t be so harsh on her. She just wanted to protect you, and Grogu.”

“She should never have brought them to begin with,” Bo-Katan laments. “I cannot be the cause of her relapse. It was hard enough to wean her off the drugs the last time.”

“You won’t be,” Ahsoka says gently, “and we’ll help her through if it comes down to it.”

* * *

Bo-Katan remains in the chair, deep in thought long after Ahsoka retired to her quarters to sleep. She startles when she feels a light hand on her shoulder. She whirls around, before sinking back into the chair. “Oh, Ursa, it’s just you.”

“I called your name at least five times," Ursa says, frowning. She hobbles around the chair on her crutches, and sits down carefully on the chair next to Bo-Katan. “I heard about our losses,” she says quietly, grief in her voice.

A shadow passes over Bo-Katan’s face. She sucks in a deep breath, shaking her head sadly. “Seventy good men and women, hundreds wounded.” 

Ursa sighs deeply, then gestures at Maya’s tank. “How is she?”

“The Darksaber got her bad. It tore up her liver, and they couldn't save her left kidney, she badly aggravated it while she was fighting drugged up.”

Ursa winces at the hollow tone in Bo-Katan’s voice, particularly as she turns to Ursa with a stony gaze. “What happened out there?”

“It was my fault, Bo. She was fighting Gideon, and winning, and I - I distracted her,” she huffs a growl of frustration. “She got distracted saving me, that’s how Gideon got her.”

Bo-Katan’s stiff posture softens at the distraught look on her friend’s face. “You can’t blame yourself.”

“Can’t I?” Ursa drags a hand down her face. “If she hadn’t gotten distracted, she wouldn’t have gotten injured and had to use the stims. That, and everything else. If she relapses, that’s on me. I was the one who helped her inject it.”

Ursa doesn’t miss Bo-Katan's sharp intake of breath. She lifts up her head to meet Bo-Katan’s gaze, which is unreadable. After a moment, Bo-Katan stands up, and walks to the window, gazing out of it.  “It’s no one’s fault,” she says softly after a moment of silence. “I’ve learned that now. We just need to try to find a way to move on from here. I’m tired of us blaming each other for things in the past.”

Ursa joins her by the window, looking cautious. Bo-Katan turns to her. “I’m sorry about blowing up at you about Korkie. I know now why you did it. You were right, I was so caught up righting my past wrongs that I ignored the needs and safety of our people.”

“And I’m sorry about lying to you,” Ursa says quietly, her cheeks burning with shame. “I was so afraid for my family that I did terrible things. And that's not even counting the time I betrayed you by pledging to the Empire the first time. I should have trusted you, fought by your side. Maybe the Purge wouldn't have happened, we would still be standing - ”

"No!" Bo-Katan interrupts her fiercely, and reaches for Ursa’s shoulder. "You did the right thing at the time for your family. Exile was no life for a child, for young Sabine." She looks away for a moment, trying to gather her thoughts. “I spent so many nights lying awake at night, tormented by nightmares of what I'd done. There's not a day that passes that I don't regret my actions in Death Watch, killing innocent people, betraying my own sister - ” she feels a lump in her throat. “The lengths that she went to protect me, and what did I ever do for her?”

Seeing Bo-Katan’s quick turn into guilt and melancholy, Ursa tries to inject some humour into the situation. “Well, to be fair, it is difficult to top the sisterly act of sending a perfectly loyal Protector to infiltrate a terrorist organization to look after her kid sister.”

Bo-Katan huffs a watery laugh at that. “It is hard to top. But it’s not just that,” she whispers, and Ursa cocks an eyebrow at that in curiosity.

For the next few hours, Bo-Katan shows Ursa the videos from the holodisc, and Ursa weeps. Weeps for the revelation that Korkie was in fact Satine’s son, that Satine loved Bo-Katan unconditionally, that Bo-Katan never knew until it was too late, that the sisters never had the chance to truly reconcile, and that Bo-Katan still lived with the pain, shame, and regret of her choices as a teenager.

Next to her, Bo-Katan lets the tears fall, but she feels lighter, like a great burden has been lifted off her chest. Telling Ursa this secret and mending their friendship has brought an immense amount of relief to her, she feels like she can breathe easily again.

At the end of the videos, Ursa wraps her into a bear hug. Bo-Katan hugs her back just as tightly. “I’ve missed you,  _ ner vod. _ I'm sorry this is what it took for us to reconcile."

“Me too,” Ursa whispers. 

They remain wrapped in each other's arms for a while, before Ursa pulls away slightly, eyes on the chrono. "Stars, I need to be in a meeting with Sabine in ten minutes. Hopefully she has some good news about the new bacta tanks we need. I'll find you later after the debrief, okay? I've got a new bottle of tihaar waiting for you," she says with a cheeky twinkle in her eye.

“You have a concussion, Ursa, you’re not supposed to be drinking,” Bo-Katan says in gentle admonishment.

“Bah, it’s a guideline, not a hard rule,” Ursa says dismissively with a grin, grabbing her crutches, and pushing herself back onto her feet.

“Give Sabine my best,” Bo-Katan calls after her.

“I will!” Ursa yells back as the door shuts behind her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I copped out. I'm finding it very difficult to pick any character to kill off, but I did want to show off Ahsoka being a badass at Force healing.
> 
> Shout out to the_obiwan_for_me for the inspiration around the stim shots used in the She Said the Word story.


	21. Family is More than Blood

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Koska and Maya finally have a heart-to-heart regarding their conversation on what Maya thought was her deathbed, but decades old insecurities resurface and rear their ugly head. 
> 
> Din steps in to mediate, and Koska realizes she has more in common with Din than she first realized.

_10 ABY_

It takes three weeks for Maya to finally wake up, and everyday since, Koska joins her in the med-bay when she’s done with her day of work. Koska supposes that in any other situation, Maya would have chased her away, insisting that she spend time doing other things, but her near-death experience, or rather return from the dead, has made her grateful for every second of Koska’s company.

“Victory, again!” Maya crows gleefully as she knocks over Koska’s last chess piece for the fifth time.

Koska makes a glum noise at the back of her throat, and moves to reset the holo-chess board. Maya takes a sip from her mug of tea and surveys Koska over the rim. Koska has been quiet and out of sorts all afternoon since finishing a round of guard duty. She’s contemplating asking Koska what’s wrong, when the younger woman looks up from the board.

“Can we talk about it?” she asks abruptly.

“Talk about what?”

Koska narrows her eyes, knowing Maya is playing dumb. “The holodisc that you gave me.” 

Maya hums. She figured Koska would ask about it eventually. She’s just surprised it’s taken her this long. Patience isn’t known to be a virtue of Koska’s. “Did you watch it?”

Koska shakes her head. 

“Well, you were only supposed to watch it in the event of my death, so you could’ve watched it,” Maya says lightly.

A frown creases Koska’s forehead. “That’s not funny. Don’t joke about things like that.”

Maya winces. “Right. You’re mad I didn’t tell you about the plan.”

“I can’t believe you trusted Ursa on this, but not me.” The quiet hurt in Koska’s voice breaks Maya’s heart. 

“No, it’s not because I trusted her more than you. Believe me. I wasn’t going to risk losing you on my stupid plan - ”

“No, you’d just rather I lose you _,_ ” Koska snaps.

Maya looks stricken, and Koska’s anger melts away a little, realizing how harsh it sounded. She opens her mouth to apologize but Maya raises a hand to cut her off.

“No, I deserved that, it was selfish of me,” she murmurs. “But I’m not sorry for leaving you out of that mission, okay? I was afraid that if I told you, you’d worm your way onto the _Gauntlet_ somehow, and I wasn’t going to let anything happen to you.”

“You don’t need to keep babysitting me! I’m not a kid anymore,” Koska says heatedly.

“But you’re still _my_ kid,” Maya snaps back.

Koska stares at her, speechless.

An odd silence falls between them. Maya had always treated Koska as her kid sister, but she’d never formalized it until a few days ago on what she thought was her deathbed.

Koska shifts awkwardly on the bed. "So you meant it?" Her voice is unsure, timid.

Maya frowns. "Of course I meant it, why wouldn't I have meant it?"

"I don't know! You were dying, I thought you were trying to make me feel better, some last form of charity - "

"Charity!" Maya spits out, she can't believe her ears. "Fucks sake, Koska, you think I took you in as some twisted form of charity?”

“Isn’t that what it was though? If we’re really being honest with ourselves?” 

This time, it’s Maya that’s struck speechless, and Koska continues, clearly having given much thought to it.

“If my family were still alive, you would never have taken me in, perhaps our paths would never have crossed. If you had not found me in that basement, and you had not taken pity on me, I would not be a Mandalorian.”

“Koska, what are you trying to say?” Maya sounds exhausted.

“Like it or not, you took me in out of pity, out of charity. You felt bad, because I had nowhere else left to go.” Koska is on the verge of tears, voice hoarse, the words spilling out of the deepest recesses of her heart and mind. It’s only then that Maya realizes that Koska had borne this insecurity all her life, with no outlet to release them, until now. But to her utter dismay, she finds herself wholly unequipped to assuage this doubt. “If your family were still alive, and mine were not, would you still have taken me in? Did you take me in just to replace that hole in your heart?”

Maya swallows heavily, and takes a shuddering breath. “Where are you getting these ideas? Is it Gideon? What poison has he been feeding you?”

“You’re not answering the question,” Koska fires back, eyes flashing.

“What does it matter, if I took you in out of pity or not?” Maya cries out. “Whatever the reason for taking you in, I cared for you, raised you, loved you, as my own blood. Is that not enough?”

Koska sighs and scrubs a tired hand over her face. “Of course it matters,” she says quietly. "I just - never mind." She pushes herself to her feet. “I’m going to get some rest, you should too.”

Maya stares at her, stunned by the many turns of the conversation. Without a second glance, Koska trudges out of the room, and Maya’s head drops down to the blankets, staring unseeingly at the threads, blinking back gathering tears.

“This is probably a bad time, isn’t it?” 

She looks up to see Din standing by the open door, shifting awkwardly, Grogu cradled in his arms. Sniffling, she swipes at the eyes with the back of her hand, and flashes him a half-hearted smile. “Hey.”

Din lifts up Grogu slightly. “Kid wanted to come say thank you, but we can come back another time - “

“No, it’s fine. I could use a little distraction,” Maya mumbles, patting the armchair vacated by Koska. Still looking uncertain, Din walks into the room and sits down. Grogu immediately crawls onto Maya’s bed.

“Kid, c’mon - “ he begins admonishing Grogu, but Maya waves him away.

“It’s fine, let him be.”

Din concedes, and leans back in his chair. He observes as Maya tries to keep her eyes fixed on Grogu, prodding him playfully, as though that would keep him from seeing her red-rimmed eyes. “You’re looking better,” he says quietly. “Well, better than when I found you bleeding out on the floor.”

She huffs out a small laugh. “Yeah, I'm not quite the same mess. What about you? Heard you had a bit of an accident with some explosives.”

Din snorts. “Yeah. Had a concussion, but I’m good now. Can’t say the same about the _Razor Crest_ though.”

Maya catches the crestfallen look on his face. “I’m sorry to hear that,” she says sympathetically. “And I hate to say it, but you were due for a replacement anyway.”

“I _knew_ you were going to say that,” Din says drily, and Maya chuckles. His expression then turns serious. “But really, how are you holding up? I - sorry, I couldn’t help but overhear parts of your conversation with Koska. It was quite loud.”

He’s relieved to see that Maya doesn’t seem angered by his eavesdropping, though a pained expression comes over her face. “You’re a foundling Din, what do you think? What can I do? What should I do?”

Din stays silent for a while, and he absentmindedly starts rubbing circles on Grogu’s head. “If it brings you comfort, it’s not uncommon for foundlings to have such doubts and fears. I know I did.”

He doesn’t know if it’s possible for Maya to look any more wounded. “It was never my intent to make her feel less than. I meant what I said, I love her as my own. She is my family, my _aliit_ \- “

“And she knows that,” Din interrupts her gently. “Logically, she knows that. But subconsciously, those doubts are still there.”

“And how did you resolve these doubts?” Maya asks, almost desperately.

Din gives her a small, sad smile. “There is no one right answer to that. I accepted that these doubts would always be a part of me a long time ago, and I focused on what was important - which is the fact that regardless of intentions, I had a tribe, a purpose. For Koska, regardless of why you took her in, whatever happened in the lead up to it, the fact is that you became her family, you raised loved, loved her. And I think she knows that. It’s just not easy to throw off that feeling.”

Maya sighs heavily. “I know. I just don’t know how to help.”

“It’s not for you to help, Maya. She has to figure this out on her own, we all have to.” He can tell that she’s unsatisfied with that answer, but it’s the truth. She leans back against the pillows, a defeated slump in her shoulders. “Let her be, let her figure this out." 

She sighs, and he leans forward. “Anyway, I hear you’ve got enough on your plate at the moment. That Darksaber injury was no joke. How are you feeling, physically?” 

“Well, I’m down a kidney, but apparently it shouldn’t affect my ability to fight. It’s still weird to be missing one, but I suppose it could be worse.”

He continues to stare at her, and she almost wants to fidget under the weight of it. “Worse? I heard you were brought back from the dead.”

“Hm. You heard a lot.”

“I did.” 

When Maya lapses into silence again, Din prods her. “What did it feel like?”

_Death. What did death feel like?_

“I don’t know. I knew I was dying, and I didn’t want to leave.” She purses her lips. “I didn’t want to leave Koska and Bo, not when my job wasn’t finished. I felt cold, I felt myself being dragged under. Then nothing. There was nothing at all.” 

_How do you convey the vast lonely nothingness that awaits all of us after the end?_

She swallows thickly and falls silent for a while, shuddering at the memory. “I don’t know how long it was, but I felt life in me again. Someone was telling me to fight on, that I wasn’t done yet. Maybe it was Ahsoka I heard, I don’t know exactly. Then it felt like I was dreaming for days, weeks, until I finally woke up.” Din stares at her in amazement. She shrugs, suddenly self-conscious. “I don’t know, I’m just telling you what I felt.”

“No, thank you for telling me,” he says softly. “Did you ask Ahsoka to explain it to you?” 

An exasperated look comes over Maya’s face. “She’s terrible at explaining anything Force-related. But she did say that she meditated and saved me by directing her energy to mine. I asked her if it was like a battery, and I think she was slightly offended by that analogy.

“A battery?” Din barks out in laughter. He looks at Grogu in amusement. “How’d you feel about that kid? You’re a battery.”

Maya looks flustered now. “I’m not calling your kid a _battery_ \- “

Grogu just looks at them in confusion, and Din’s laughter slowly dies down, as he stares at Grogu. “No, the battery analogy makes sense,” he muses.

“It does?” 

“I didn’t understand it before when I first saw it. My friend was shot in the leg, and Grogu healed him. Stretched out his hand and healed him, just like that. He was tired afterwards, but he did it,” Din says proudly.

Maya looks at Grogu with a fresh amazement. “Wow kid. Did you tell Ahsoka? Because I thought only fully trained Jedi knights could do that.”

Din shakes his head. “No I haven’t told her yet. Honestly, I forgot about it, until I heard that she healed you.”

“I’m sure she’d be interested to know. Grogu is more powerful than we first thought.” Maya looks at Grogu with a small smile.

They lapse into comfortable silence for a while, watching Grogu fiddle with the edges of the blankets. Din finally looks up, eyes soft. “So other than being brought back to life, and missing a kidney, how’re you holding up?”

She puffs out her cheeks. “Believe it or not, I’m just looking forward to starting rehab. I need to start getting better, stronger. I need something to work towards. I’m going crazy in here, I’m bored out of my mind.”

Din laughs softly. “You’ll be fine. You’ll be out there kicking everyone’s _shebs_ soon enough.”

“Maybe,” Maya concedes with a grunt. “Anyway, have you thought about getting a new ship?”

He raises an eyebrow at her, noting the change in topic, but to her relief, doesn’t comment further. “No, not yet, I can’t bring myself to replace the old girl yet. She was my first ship.”

“Firsts are always memorable.”

He frowns. “Ahsoka said that, and it sounded wise. But when you say it, it just sounds so wrong.”

A lascivious grin crosses her face, and Din instantly regrets egging her on. 

“Mind out of the gutter, Din Djarin,” she says teasingly with a wide grin.

Din sighs and buries his face in his hands, as Grogu cocks his head in confusion. “You’re incorrigible.” 

“Maybe you need to fix that helmet asap, Din, your poker face is non-existent,” Maya chortles at his continued embarrassment. 

“I should, to hide from cruel women like you,” he mumbles, though he can’t deny that he likes her cheerful laughter, a welcome change from the miserable expression on her face when he first walked into the room.

When she’s finally done laughing at him, he raises his head and looks her in the eyes once more, and she’s suddenly struck by how intense and piercing his gaze is. “But in all seriousness, I wanted to thank you.”

“Din - “

“You saved Grogu. You risked everything to save him,” he says insistently, and he reaches out to grasp Maya’s hand. 

Maya can barely look him in the eyes, see the openness in his face. He hasn’t been trained to hide his emotions, not when he’s been hiding behind his helmet his whole life. His sincere gratitude and worry for her is almost naked on his face. 

She squeezes his hand back. “Well, you saved us too, remember? It wasn’t all me,” she says gruffly, trying to hide her own emotion.

His jaw twitches as he tries to find the right words, when someone suddenly knocks on the door, breaking the spell.

“Ah, there you are! It’s time for Grogu’s class!” Ahsoka says cheerfully through the open door.

Maya glances over at her past Din’s shoulder, and jerks her head at the chrono. “Is it half day for the kid, or half day for you?” she calls out to Ahsoka. 

Din rolls his eyes, squeezes her hand once more before releasing it with an affectionate smile, and stands up to hand Grogu over to Ahsoka, who remains by the door. 

Ahsoka sighs dramatically. “I hope you recover quickly Maya, or at least well enough to take back your administrative duties, they’re so tedious. I’m tired of doing them for you.”

Maya smirks. “Oh I don’t think I’m capable of such things yet Ahsoka. You’ll have to hold down the fort while I’m unable.”

“Always knew you were a lazy one,” Ahsoka retorts teasingly. “Anyway, I’m sorry to interrupt you both, but Din, Ursa wants you to join her in the command center for a meeting starting in five minutes. Looks like she could use your input on the procurement of fresh ship parts.”

He nods. “Sure, I’ll be there.” He turns back to Maya. “I’ll see you around,” he says quietly.

She flashes him a small, grateful smile. “Go, I’ll see you later.”

* * *

_Just a little more water._

Satisfied, Koska takes a step back from the plant, a self-satisfied smile on her face, as she admires the flowers, blooming amidst the destruction wrecked on the base only a month ago.

“I thought I might find you here.”

She spins around on her heels to see Din approaching her. 

“It’s beautiful,” he comments. 

Koska grins at him, and turns back to the plant. “A pet project of mine. It was a little difficult to get the soil pH right in the beginning, but I got it right after a few tries.”

“Is it native to this moon?” he asks, curious.

She shakes her head. “I brought the seeds over from Taanab. The soil here is more acidic, so it’s not immediately compatible. But I like spending time on it, helps me relax, think.” Her gaze then flicks over to Din, and she shakes her head with a lopsided grin. “It’s so strange to see your face.”

He grins. “Yeah, a lot of people have been saying that to me.”

“Is it going to be a permanent thing?”

“Maybe. And since my helmet is off...” he raises the bottle of tihaar in his hand, and two glasses.

She laughs. _“Mandokarla!”_

Din grins, and jerks his head towards the benches in the middle of the garden. He sets down the glasses, and pours the tihaar. He raises his glass. _“Oya.”_

 _“Oya,”_ she repeats, and they tip their glasses back. 

Both of them sit down on the bench, and Koska tucks a knee up onto the bench, and rests her arms on it. She pours herself another glass, and takes a sip. "So why did you come looking for me?"

Din almost wants to laugh at the uncanny resemblance between Maya and Koska. Both are direct and blunt.

"I overheard parts of your conversation with Maya the other day" He doesn't need to explain further, because recognition flashes on her face, along with a heavy dose of regret. 

"What about it?” There is a note of defensiveness in her tone.

"I know how it feels.”

Koska's eyes snap up to his, and he sees the instant anger in them, the reflexive denial on the tip of her tongue, before she remembers that he too was a foundling. She sighs heavily, and settles for another sip of tihaar instead.

Din takes it as his cue to continue. “Even after all these years, I sometimes still wonder why the Watch saved me from the Empire. Did they feel sorry for me? Was it because they needed soldiers and young minds to groom?” He shrugs. “I still don’t know, But what I do know is that at the end of the day, I was given a people, a tribe, a purpose.”

“Din - “

“But you, Koska, you have so much more than that. Whatever the reason she had for taking you in - pity, loneliness, grief, or selflessness, whatever it is, she gave you a clan, a family, a place in this world, and she loves you like her own. Is that not what’s most important? Is that not the one thing to take heart in, to hold on to, more than anything else?”

Koska blinks furiously, trying to keep her tears at bay, she pours herself another glass of tihaar that she throws back, as though the warmth of the alcohol would warm her suddenly cold heart.

“What I had with my Tribe, it’s _nothing_ like what you have with Maya. What you have with Maya is what I hope to have with Grogu.”

A choked noise and growl tear from Koska’s throat, and she drops her head into her hands. Din falls silent, having said his piece, and giving her the space to process it all. She takes several deep, shuddering breaths, before she finally looks up. 

“I know I was being unfair and cruel, I shouldn’t have taken out my own frustrations and insecurities on her,” Koska says hoarsely. “And I hope she never thinks I’m ungrateful for everything she’s given me. In fact, I think I may be undeserving of it - “

“But isn’t that what a family’s love is? Unconditional? Regardless of whether you’re deserving? She loves you no matter what. You’re part of her clan, and you always have been. You didn’t need her to say the adoption vow to make it real.”

As Din speaks, Koska starts shaking her head fervently. “No, that’s not I’m worried about. Din,” she looks up, fear and uncertainty swirling in her red-rimmed eyes. “I’m afraid that I can’t live up to what her own family would have been, could have been.”

_Ah, therein lies the crux of the problem._

“I come from a line of farmers from Taanab. We were not fighters or warriors. And Maya - she comes from a long distinguished line of warriors in Clan Reeves.” Her breath hitches, and she takes another shuddering breath before continuing. “She keeps telling me how proud she is of me, but I don’t see it. I can’t. What’s there to be proud of, really, I mean - “ she cuts herself off then, realizing how emotional she was getting.

With a shaky hand, she pours herself another glass of tihaar, and takes a large gulp, all the while keeping her gaze averted. Din considers her for a moment, before speaking. 

“I was born on Aq Vetina. My parents were traders. Like you, I could not have envisioned such a life for myself, taken in as a foundling, swearing to the creed of a Mandalorian. I think it’s important to remember where we came from, our parents who gave us life, but we must also look ahead, and leave the past behind. We can’t move on, if we keep looking over our shoulders, Koska.” He reaches out across the table and grasps her hand. “You are a Mandalorian, Koska. And you belong here.”

She claps her other hand over his and squeezes it. She flashes him a watery smile. “You belong here too, Din Djarin.”

He grins at her. “Thank you, Koska. I’m glad I’m here.”

Koska pours them both a drink, and raises it. “To farmers and traders.” 

“I’ll drink to that,” Din says with a laugh.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Moff Gideon is stirring shit up as usual, and Koska ended up as one of his casualties in his psychological warfare. I thought Din and Koska should get some bonding time over their shared experiences as foundlings, albeit with some significant differences.
> 
> And Din is just trying to be a great dad to Grogu.
> 
> Mando'a translation:  
> aliit: clan/family/tribe  
> Mandokarla: you got the right stuff


	22. Meetings and Reunions in Coruscant

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> At the request of Senator Organa, Bo-Katan and Ahsoka travel to Coruscant to meet with the New Republic Senate, and to fight for a trade deal between Mandalore and the New Republic. Amidst the expected hostility, Bo-Katan is surprised to find several outspoken allies amongst the Senators.

_ 10 ABY _

Bo-Katan is in the middle of briefing Fenn on the next steps of the rebuilding of the base when her commlink beeps with an incoming call. “Yes?” 

Sabine Wren’s image shimmers to life. “Lady Bo-Katan. I apologize for this last minute intrusion, but Senator Organa would like to speak with you and Ahsoka.”

Bo-Katan and Ahsoka exchange a surprised look. “Now?” 

“Yes, now.” She turns to reveal a young, brown-haired woman standing beside her. 

Bo-Katan gestures for the soldiers to clear out of her office, then turns back to the holo. “Senator Organa,” she greets her courteously.

“Lady Kryze.” Leia nods at her with a smile. “Please, just call me Leia.”

“In that case, call me Bo-Katan.”

Leia grins, and turns to Bo-Katan’s companion. “Ahsoka, it’s good to see you again.”

“You too, Leia.” Ahsoka smiles warmly at her. “I trust everything is going well on Coruscant?”

“It’s a slow and painful process, but we’re rebuilding, brick by brick. The Senate is starting to come together, we’re trying to be as inclusive as possible to bridge the gaps.” 

Ahsoka doesn’t miss the slight tightening of Bo-Katan’s jaw when Leia talks about the Senate. Perceptive as always, Leia catches it too. She flashes Bo-Katan an amused smile. “Don’t worry. I’m not asking Mandalore to be a part of the New Republic, not yet.”

Bo-Katan barks out a surprised laugh. “I’m glad to hear of it. One step at a time.”

Now it’s Leia’s turn to be surprised at the small concession from Bo-Katan, but she recovers quickly. “Alright then, let’s get down to it. Sabine told me about the attack on your base. The medical supplies are already on their way to you, you should receive them today.”

Bo-Katan inclines her head. “Thank you for your generosity.”

“Oh nonsense, everyone should be able to have access to medical supplies. Now, Sabine also mentioned the possibility of opening official trade routes with the New Republic? It would certainly go a long way in legitimizing a new Mandalore state.”

“Indeed, it would. Can we count on your support for that?”

Leia appraises her shrewdly. “You know, prior to this attack I may have rejected your proposal. But I have received reports, heard whispers, of growing Imperial remnant activities in the Outer Rim. This attack on Concordia by two cruisers is certainly alarming, and a threat to our hard-won peace.” She pauses for a moment, and the corner of her lip quirks up. “And yet, your people defended your base with a fraction of the Imperial forces, captured the Moff, and scattered them. I’m impressed.”

Pride swells in Bo-Katan’s chest. “Our people are still strong.”

Leia chuckles. “Of that, I have no doubt. If I may be so frank, peace is fragile right now, and the New Republic can only realistically control limited sectors in the galaxy. A stable Mandalore with a strong ruler would help us ensure peace in the Outer Rim. That is why I will take a proposal to the Senate, you have my support, Bo-Katan.”

Next to her, Sabine huffs a visible sigh of relief, and some of the tension drains from Bo-Katan’s body. 

“Ideally, you or one of your senior representatives would be here to defend the bill when I propose it in the Senate,” Leia continues “I understand there’s a lot of rebuilding work to do. No offence to Sabine here, but I really think we’ll need to bring out the big guns on this.” 

Sabine shrugs cheerfully. “None taken.”

“Ahsoka, it may not be a bad idea for you to join.” Leia looks at her.

“What?” Ahsoka sputters. “Me? Why? I’m not - “

“You’re neither Mandalorian nor entirely a Jedi, but you played an essential role in the Rebellion. You fought with Master Kenobi and the Jedi in the Clone Wars, worked closely with my father Bail, and Hera Syndulla. If the Senate were to know of your support for Mandalore, I think it would go a long way in proving the legitimacy of Bo-Katan and Mandalore,” Leia explains.

Ahsoka can’t shake the feeling that Leia knows more than she’s letting on. That damned Force sensitivity of Leia’s is showing.

“Yeah Ahsoka, it would go a long way,” Bo-Katan parrots to Ahsoka with a small grin.

Ahsoka fights to keep her face from reddening. “Right, yes, you’re both right. I’ll be there. When’s the meeting?”

“In three days, can you make it?”

Bo-Katan gives Ahsoka an encouraging smile before turning back to Leia. “We’ll be there.” 

Sabine beams at them, and Leia claps her hands together, pleased. “Excellent, I’ll make the arrangements then. I look forward to seeing you both, and Ahsoka, it’s been too long.”

Ahsoka smiles. “It has. We’ll see you soon, Leia.”

* * *

As Bo-Katan expected, Maya was pissed when Bo-Katan informed her that she was travelling with Ahsoka to Coruscant, immediately dropping the weights she was holding to the ground with a loud  _ clang. _

“As your Protector, I must strongly advise you against that - “

“It’s not like we’re walking into enemy territory.” Bo-Katan can’t keep the exasperation out of her tone.

“If you’d just give me a little more time - “

“There’s no time, the meeting is in three days.”

“I know, I only need - “

“More time for you to recover and come along? Because that’s going to take a while and we don’t have time for that!” 

Maya’s face reddens in anger. “That’s  _ not _ what I was going to say. If you’d just let me speak! I was going to say more time for me to put together a security detail!”

Bo-Katan winces, briefly embarrassed at how callous she sounded. She tries to apologize, but it’s too late.

“But that’s not it, is it?” Maya continues, her temper flaring. “You’ve been acting weird around me. You have something to say, say it to my face.”

“Excuse me?” Bo-Katan barks, now becoming defensive.

“I see the way you look at me, like I’m some crazy stim junkie that can’t be trusted - “

“What in the seven Corellian hells are you talking about!”

“You don’t trust me to do my job, is that it?”

“No, that’s not what I’m saying!” Bo-Katan shouts, and then exhales deeply and rubs a tired hand over her face. Her voice drops in volume. “Fuck’s sake, Maya. No, I don’t think you’re some _ stim junkie,” _ she spits out the words in disgust. “Your body is a karking mess! I just need you to focus on your recovery first, not me, not anyone else. _ ” _

Maya falls silent, eyes averted, breathing heavily, hands on her hips. 

Bo-Katan sighs again. “Maya,” she says quietly, grasping her friend’s shoulder, and ducks her head, trying to catch her gaze. “I’ll always trust you, and I’ll always need you by my side, but I need you at full strength, do you understand me?” Maya’s breath hitches, her gaze flickers up to Bo-Katan’s briefly, though she’s unable to find the right words.

Bo-Katan sighs. “Of course I wish you hadn’t taken them, but I understand why you did it. You saved the kid, defeated Gideon. You did good.”

Maya looks up at her, worry etched in the lines of her face. “So you’re not upset about the Darksaber, that I took it from Gideon?” she asks quietly.

Bo-Katan frowns, her hand slipping away from Maya’s shoulder. “Why would I be upset about that?”

“I know our people’s obsession with history and culture. I hope I didn’t jeopardize your claim to it. I know it’s within the right of every mando’ade to win it for their Clan Head, but this - “ she sighs, “I know it doesn’t have the same story as if you won it yourself.”

Bo-Katan shakes her head with a rueful smile. She lays both hands on Maya’s shoulders, leaning forward. “My friend, the only story that matters is what you did for me, for all of us. No one has served me longer, more faithfully than you have. People can say whatever they want, think whatever they want, but I know the truth, our people here know the truth.”

Maya nods numbly, and Bo-Katan smiles wordlessly at her, the raw emotion hanging heavy between them. After a long moment, Maya takes a step back, and draws herself to her full height, formality returning to her body language. “Then if you’ll excuse me, I’ll prepare a security detail for your trip.”

“I don’t need a detail.”

Maya frowns. “I’d feel more comfortable if someone was there with you, at least Fenn.”

Bo-Katan rolls her eyes. “I’ll have a Jedi with me, that’s all the protection I’d need. Scratch that, I’ll have two Jedi. Ezra’s there too.”

Maya glowers at her. “That’s not a good enough reason, but okay.”

“You worry too much. I’d rather leave Fenn here, in case the Imps strike again.”

She pinches the bridge of her nose, unable to argue with Bo-Katan’s logic. “Fine.”

“Trust me on this, we need this trade deal and the New Republic if we’re going to survive.“ Bo-Katan slaps her on the shoulder. “I’ll leave Concordia in your very capable hands,  _ ner vod .” _

* * *

A ten hour flight later, Ahsoka looks out the window as the ship arrives at the docks of the Coruscant. “I did not miss this place at all,” she grumbles. 

“Never been,” Bo-Katan says, and when Ahsoka looks at her in surprise, she shrugs. “What? Only Satine went for state functions here when we were children.”

Ahsoka’s surprise smooths into a soft understanding. She had felt Bo-Katan’s increasing nervousness on the flight here. Bo-Katan was never groomed to be the ruler, Satine was. Throughout most of her teen and adult life, Bo-Katan had only ever known how to be a warrior, a blunt instrument in war. Politics and negotiation were never her cards to play.

“You’ll do great out there, don’t worry about it,” Ahsoka says encouragingly.

Bo-Katan huffs a self-deprecating laugh. “Introducing Bo-Katan, former terrorist and exiled leader!” She lets loose an undignified yelp when Ahsoka flicks her hard on the nose

“Knock it off, Bo. You’re more than that. Let the past stay in the past. And don’t let any of those idiot Senators get under your skin by using that against you, okay?” 

She ducks her head, chastened. “Right, sorry.”

Ahsoka sighs, her stern expression melting into a softer one. “I’ve seen how the Republic Senate worked, and it was dirty politics. I imagine the new one would be the same. You need to be prepared for whatever they’re going to say about you and Mandalore, even if they bring up Death Watch. Just stick to what we practised, and you’ll be fine.”

Bo-Katan nods quietly, and follows her towards the door. As Bo-Katan reaches out to open the door, she finds herself getting tugged back towards Ahsoka’s warm body. She turns around in the embrace, and looks up at Ahsoka, who’s watching her with a tender look in her eyes, all her sternness and irritation from before disappearing. “What’s wrong?”

Ahsoka’s finger slowly traces the ridges of her scar on her forehead, and a small smile graces her lips. “Nothing’s wrong. I’m just really proud of you, Bo.”

Unable to find the right words, Bo-Katan settles for tugging her down into a chaste kiss. She pulls back quickly, and drops another peck on the corner of Ahsoka’s lips before opening the door.

As predicted by Ahsoka, the Senate session was fiery, aggressive, and despite Leia’s strong vocal support for the trade deal, many Senators were reluctant to support it, even viciously against it. Some wanted Mandalore to pledge itself to the New Republic, some didn’t recognize Bo-Katan as the rightful ruler, some didn’t believe Mandalore could be rebuilt.

“Didn’t she get her sister overthrown and killed?”

“She’s a terrorist!” 

“What makes you think she’s the right leader for them? Didn’t she get overthrown twice?”

Her initial anger at the jibes from the Senators over the last few hours has melted into exhaustion and despair. Bo-Katan looks helplessly at Ahsoka, who returns the lost look. Even Leia looks annoyed.

But as they say, oft hope deceives, yet twice blessed is help unlooked for.

“Enough!” A loud voice thunders across the room, and Ahsoka turns to see who it is. Her jaw drops.

“The Senate recognizes the Senator Lux Bonteri of Onderon, who now has the floor,” Leia announces, striking the gavel, looking slightly relieved.

Lux stands up tall, and Ahsoka sees that despite the years, he has largely retained his boyish good looks. The only difference now is that he holds himself with far more confidence and strength, he exudes patience and wisdom. 

“Most of you speak ill of Lady Bo-Katan and her Mandalorians, yet you have never met her, nor ever step foot on Mandalore,” he booms, and many Senators fall silent. “I met Bo-Katan and her Death Watch many years ago, I wanted them to deliver Count Dooku to me, I wanted his head for the death of my mother. Does that make me a terrorist? Perhaps.” 

He looks around at the Senators in the room. “We’ve all done things we’re not proud of. What matters is how we move forward in our new world.” His gaze roves towards the pod where Bo-Katan and Ahsoka are sitting, and his lips quirk up in a small smile. “I trust Bo-Katan, because my old friend Ahsoka Tano trusts her and stands by her side. Bo-Katan once tried to kill Ahsoka and myself, but times change, people change. Ahsoka believed in me before I believed in myself, she fought for Onderon and our freedom from the Separatists. If she believes in Bo-Katan, then I do as well. I yield the floor.”

He sits down again amidst murmurings, which Ahsoka is pleased to sense, are now more approving than disapproving. Beside her, Bo-Katan stifles a surprised chuckle. “I can’t believe he brought up the fact that I tried to kill you both.”

Ahsoka smacks her on the knee playfully. “He’s not wrong though.”

Leia hits the gavel again. “The Senate recognizes Senator Aydullo of Ryloth.”

A tall, thin Twi’lek stands up, and he speaks with a reedy voice. “I’m relatively new to this Senate, but some of you might know me, from when I served in the Republic Senate. I was arrested seven years ago by the Empire, and was imprisoned in the prison Megalox Beta.”

Ahsoka's and Bo-Katan’s heads snap to look at him. 

“I escaped from the prison a year ago, thanks to Lady Bo-Katan and her allies for breaking into the prison and causing chaos,” he says with a small chuckle. “While in prison, I met a fine young man - Korkie Kryze, nephew of Lady Bo-Katan and the late Duchess Satine.”

Bo-Katan looks shell-shocked.

“He was kidnapped by the Empire, and although he had been in prison for two years, he never gave up hope that his aunt would come looking for him. Korkie told me many stories about his people’s struggle to take back their home, and at the heart of them was always Lady Bo-Katan. That bright young man became a dear friend of mine, and we shared our dreams and hopes.”

He pauses for a moment and looks up at Bo-Katan, whose eyes are now glistening with unshed tears. “He believed she was the right leader for Mandalore, and his hope was that she would reunite their people and take back their homeworld. I believe this trade deal is the first in that step. I yield the floor.”

The speeches of Lux and Aydullo do the trick, because the trade deal is passed, eking by with just two votes. But it’s enough, it passed, that’s all that matters to Bo-Katan. She slumps into her chair, head buried in her hands in relief. Ahsoka grasps her knee, leaning down to whisper her congratulations, and Sabine slaps her on the back.

_ “ Ka’ra, _ I thought I was going to faint,” Bo-Katan mumbles into her hands.

Ahsoka laughs out loud, almost a little hysterically. “Me too. Alright, I’m going to speak to Lux, I assume you’re going to look for Aydullo?”

Bo-Katan shoots to her feet. “Yes, there’s much I need to speak to him about, and you - “ she shoots a sly look at Ahsoka. “You have to thank your ex for me.”

Ahsoka rolls her eyes. “He’s not my ex.”

“Your betrothed, was it?”

“Bo!” Ahsoka whisper-shouts at her, and Bo-Katan backs away, still laughing to herself. “Not a word!” She cuts Sabine off before she can open her mouth. The younger woman walks off with Ezra, both snickering.

Flustered, Ahsoka wrenches open the door to the corridor, and crashes right into Lux Bonteri.  She leaps back like she’s been burnt. “Oh, Lux! I’m so sorry!” To her dismay, she feels her cheeks flushing, and she berates herself for acting a love-sick teenager again.

To his credit, Lux’s cheeks are also reddening, and the confidence that he projected on the Senate floor has dissipated upon seeing her. He awkwardly extends his hand. “A pleasure to see you again, Ahsoka.”

Ahsoka shakes his hand with a gracious smile, trying to smooth over her initial embarrassment. “You too Lux, it’s been a while.”

He grins and offers his arm. “Will you walk with me?” Ahsoka chuckles and takes it. He leads her down the winding corridors of the Senate, and out into the gardens of the building overlooking the city. When they’re finally in a more secluded spot, away from prying eyes and ears, he finally turns to look at her.

“I hear that you’ve been keeping busy, Ahsoka,” he says with a smirk. “Some things never change.”

Ahsoka grins, tucking her hands into her pockets. “You know me, I always need a new challenge.”

Lux studies her, and raises an eyebrow. “Didn’t sound like a new challenge, per se, based on what I’ve heard. You’ve been running with this group of Mandalorians for quite a number of years now, for at least the last six, if not longer.” Seeing her unease, he clarifies, “you forget I was married to an Imperial officer, Ahsoka. I heard the rumors, even if I wasn’t meant to.”

“You haven’t changed either Lux, once a Separatist rebel, always a Separatist rebel.” 

Lux chuckles. “No, I haven’t.” Then he sobers up a little. “I’m glad you’re alright, Ahsoka, I heard the attack on Concordia was brutal.”

Ahsoka sighs, her mood turning gloomy. “We were caught off-guard, but luckily Bo and the others had built a good defence, and Mandalorians are made of sturdy stock.” 

The way that Lux looks at her, she knows that he’s sharp enough to have caught on in her choice of words - “ _ we _ ”, “ _ Bo _ ” _. _ He blinks, and a slow smirk creeps onto his face. “You and Bo-Katan make a weirdly good team. It’s funny how things worked out. But don’t worry, your secret’s safe with me.”

Ahsoka flushes. “Who said anything about a secret?” 

“Oh, so it’s  _ not _ a secret?”

“Lux! Ugh!” Ahsoka punches his arm in annoyance and he laughs.

“It’s too easy to rile you up. But I jest, I’m glad that you’ve found a family. It’s important, these days,” he says gently, his eyes crinkling with a warm smile.

Ahsoka’s expression softens. “I’m glad I found them too, or they found me, I don’t know,” 

“Doesn’t matter. Mother always taught me to fight for family, and that’s what you’re doing now. But you’ve been fighting a long time, my friend.”

“So has she,” Ahsoka retorts immediately, and Lux knows who she means. “But I made a promise, and I’ll see it through.”

“I have no doubt of that,” Lux shoots her a crooked smile, “I hope this trade deal will serve its purpose of legitimizing Bo-Katan and Mandalore.” His expression then turns pensive. “But Senator Organa is right, there are strange things afoot in the Outer Rim, and it’s a worrying thought that there are more like Moff Gideon out there, unchecked and rampant.” 

“All the more we need a strong Mandalore.”

He nods, looking thoughtful. “But in your view, how long will it realistically take to rebuild? The Empire crushed it during the Purge, as I understand.”

Ahsoka sighs and turns away, walking to the railing and resting her arms on it, looking out at the speeders whizzing past in the fast-flowing traffic. “I can’t give you an answer to that, Lux. Besides Bo-Katan’s warriors, there are thousands of Mandalorians scattered across the galaxy. It is unlikely they will return until they are assured of a safe and secure home.”

Lux joins her at the railing.

“Two of Bo’s people went to Sundari for the first time in seven years, it’s been abandoned since the Purge began. The city is still largely intact, but it’ll take time and resources to clean it up, rebuild, ensure there is running water and electricity.” She sighs deeply again. “And that’s just Sundari. I saw the destruction at Kalevala and Krownest. I’m not from Mandalore, but her plunder by the Empire is just heartbreaking.”

“It was the ultimate punishment,” Lux says, his tone heavy. “But at least they did not suffer the face of Alderaan. I will always regret marrying that Imperial witch, and now, I wonder what would’ve happened if I didn’t. We still have a home, but the Mandalorians…” he trails off, lost in his own unhappy thoughts.

Ahsoka turns to face him fully. “It will be a long road ahead, but we’ve come too far to give up now. I’m glad Mandalore has your support, Lux.”

“If only my mother and Padme could see us now, Ahsoka.”

A small part of Ahsoka’s heart clenches with the unresolved grief of losing Padme, but she returns the smile. “They’d be proud of us.”

* * *

“There’s good and bad news,” Bo-Katan opens the meeting, Ahsoka and Sabine flanking her on the hologram projection. She had convened a meeting with the Council, calling them from Coruscant.

Ursa shoots her a half-amused look. “Alright, give us the good news first.”

“Alright then, the Senate has agreed to proceed with the trade deal. The negotiations for the finer details will begin tomorrow.”

“And the bad news?” Fenn asks.

Bo-Katan’s face turns grim. “Senator Organa has given us a heads-up that some senators plan on springing an additional condition tomorrow as part of negotiations, they want Moff Gideon to stand trial in Coruscant.”

As expected, the room explodes in protests and indignant shouting. 

“Enough!” Ursa bellows, and the room quietens. “Let her speak.”

Bo-Katan can barely hide her smirk, she’s missed her friend. “I’m not happy about this either. I believe Gideon should stand trial in Mandalore for his crimes, but I also understand that we don’t have a monopoly on his crimes throughout the galaxy. Which is why I want to know your stances on this, before negotiations begin tomorrow.”

Fenn is the first to speak up, his words measured. “Gideon has done the most damage to our homeworld, compared to any other, unless it were Alderaan, which as far as we know, was not his doing. I believe he should stand trial in Mandalore. But if that's the last obstacle that stands in the way of a trade deal with the New Republic, then I’d pick the trade deal. Our future is more important.”

“I concur,” Ursa says. “Only if there is no other way to get the deal. It is more important for us to move forward as a people than to spend a lifetime exacting revenge on one man.”

“Maya?” Bo-Katan asks softly, and the eyes of the room turn to the most quiet figure in the room. “I’d like to hear your thoughts on this.”

Maya folds her arms across her chest, voice dripping in cold fury. “He’s the reason our homeworld was destroyed, a generation of children orphaned. It’ll take years, decades to rebuild. And now we’re just handing him on a silver platter to a group of New Republic  _ shabuirse  _ that haven’t lifted a finger to help us until now?” She takes a deep breath and forces her voice to a calmer tone. “But if it’s the only way, then fine, I won’t risk Mandalore’s future in exchange for that  _ chakaar _ .”

Bo-Katan studies her, and through the flickering hologram, she can see the unhappy turn of Maya’s lips and her rigid posture. “If this is the will of the Council, then I’ll see it done. I know it’s not an easy decision.”

The rest of the meeting goes relatively smoothly, running through the trade deal with the fine-toothed comb, identifying potential roadblocks and points of contention. After an exhausting three hours, Bo-Katan brings the session to a close. “Thank you, all of you. I’ll keep you apprised of discussions tomorrow.”

“And it’s unlikely this will be finished in one day,” Ahsoka reminds them. “Based on my previous encounters with the Republic Senate, this may take at least three days to sort out.” 

Fenn groans, and Ursa puffs out her cheeks, blowing a raspberry. “Happy to help, Bo,” Maya says, throwing a sideways glance at the other two, and smiles at Bo-Katan, though it doesn’t reach her eyes. Bo-Katan nods and switches off the comms.

Maya’s smile immediately slides off her face, replaced by an angry scowl. Ursa lays a hand on her shoulder. “You alright?”

“Whatever punishment the karking Senate dishes out, he needs to pay, he needs to suffer for what he did,” she growls viciously. “He doesn’t get to get off easily.”

Fenn exhales deeply. “I know what you mean. He’s the one who ordered the destruction of the Protectors and the Purge. I’m with you Maya, we’ll make sure he pays, one way or another.”

“Whatever the two of you are thinking? Don’t,” Ursa warns them. “Whatever Bo agrees with the Senate, we can’t, shouldn’t meddle in it. We can’t jeopardize this deal, do you understand?”

Maya rubs her dry eyes, exhaustion exuding from every pore of her body. “I understand. I really do. We’ve come this far. But - ”

“No buts,” Ursa grips her shoulder tightly. “Let it go.”

“Let it go?” Maya’s voice rises in pitch, offended at the very suggestion.

“He will get what’s coming to him. I trust Bo to handle that, don’t you?” The urgency is evident in Ursa’s voice, mixed with pleading.

“Yes, of course I do,” she finally says.

Ursa keeps her hand on Maya’s shoulder for a moment, her eyes dancing across Maya’s face, searching for an answer that she seemingly finds. “Decisions will only get harder from now on, the closer we get to Mandalore, please stay the course, we cannot falter now,” she says softly.

* * *

“I never got to properly ask you, how was your conversation with Lux?” Bo-Katan asks, placing a mug of caf in front of her. 

They’re on the way back to Concordia after three exhausting days of negotiating the finer details of the trade deal. Sabine and Ezra had remained behind on Coruscant to procure the remaining medical supplies needed. 

Ahsoka accepts the caf gratefully, inhaling deeply before taking a sip. She leans back into the chair with a satisfied sigh, and props her legs up on Bo-Katan’s lap. “It was good. I hadn’t seen him in years, and it felt good to reminisce about the old times.”

“About the time I tried to kill the both of you?” Bo-Katan asks, a teasing smile on her face.

Ahsoka snorts. “Nope, more about the time you slapped me in the ass.”

Bo-Katan’s face flushes, and Ahsoka snickers. “Not my finest moment,” she mumbles, lifting up her caf to hide her flaming face behind the mug.

“Maybe that should have been the opening line with the Senate,” Ahsoka giggles.

Bo-Katan rolls her eyes affectionately at her and leans in closer, when the beeping of an incoming communication interrupts them. With a frustrated grunt, she answers the call. “What is it?”

A hologram of Sabine appears, Bo-Katan straightens when she sees the stressed expression on her face. “I have news, Bo-Katan. The Senate wants to hold the trial in two weeks.”

“What!” Bo-Katan nearly shouts. “I thought it wouldn’t be held until at least next month!”

Sabine winces. “They changed their minds, they want it done asap.”

“Well, that’s certainly not ideal,” Ahsoka mutters. “We need time to gather evidence, I don’t want this trial to be a sham.”

“That’s what it’s turning out to be,” Bo-Katan growls, a dark shadow crossing her face. "We've got a lot of work ahead of us."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've been looking forward to bringing in characters like Leia and Lux Bonteri, so here it is! I especially wanted to bring in Lux, just to play off that flirty dynamic between him and Ahsoka from Clone Wars. Too good to pass up on the classic scenes of them pretending to be betrothed, and that notorious scene of Bo-Katan slapping Ahsoka's ass.
> 
> I also wanted to explore a bit of Bo-Katan's discomfort with a political arena such as the Senate. Afterall, she was never meant to be the ruler, Satine always was. Bo's not really the political correct type of leader, eh.


End file.
